The first hearing of Milorad Dodik and Miloš Lukić was quickly completed or interrupted due to the request of the defense to move the trial to Banja Luka.
Dodik said after the hearing that it was a political process.
“He was challenged by the fact that a non-existent foreigner formally imposes laws, which is an attack on the sovereignty of BiH. This shows the weaknesses of the BiH system, not my fault,” said Dodik.
He said that his lawyers, as they announced, requested that the trial be transferred to Banja Luka.
“My team filed a request to move the trial to Banja Luka, according to that interpretation, it is competent there. Our first request was rejected, but we have a three-day appeal period. And now it has been said that it cannot even begin because that decision is prejudiced and affects the appeals process,” he said.
He pointed out that the judge was fair, Raport writes.
The start of the trial of the President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik and Acting Director of the Official Messenger of the RS Miloš Lukić due to non-execution of the decisions of the High Representative, which was supposed to be held today in the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was postponed.
The defense of Dodik and Lukić requested that the trial be postponed, and they announced an appeal.
They stated that they had an obligation to react, and that they requested the transfer of jurisdiction to the entity-level judiciary, but that request was rejected, and that they have the right to appeal.
As they stated, they believe that the conditions for the start of the main trial have not been met.
After the hearing, Dodik stated that the hearing did not start because the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina rejected the request of the defense to transfer the proceedings to the Basic Court in Banja Luka, but the defense has a deadline of three days to file an appeal, and the main trial cannot begin during that period.
“This is primarily a political process caused by the fact that a non-existent foreigner formally imposes some decisions and changes laws, which is an attack on BiH and its sovereignty. This proves the weaknesses of the system, that is BiH, rather than any fault of mine or Lukić’s. As for today’s hearing, the hearing didn’t even start, because my defense team filed a request to move the trial from here to Banjaluka, and the court made a decision not to accept it, but that we have three days to appeal. That’s why it couldn’t even start hearing because that would mean that only our appellate proceedings and the decision of the Appellate Council of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina are prejudiced,” Dodik said after leaving the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
He also stated that “they have evidence that representatives of the US Embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina visit the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina and suggest the direction in which the cases should go”.
“Enormous dependence on the high representative does not bring anything good to Bosnia and Herzegovina or anyone. American representatives visit the Prosecutor’s Office and give suggestions on what needs to be done. We have evidence for that,” said Dodik.
The prosecution objected to the proposal to postpone the hearing, and the judge said that it depends on the decision of the Appellate Division.
Lukić’s defense said that the party is in the process, that nothing has been delivered to them in order to give their statement, and that without it, the trial cannot begin.
In front of the building of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, on the eve of the announced start of the trial, the delegations of the Veterans’ Organization of the Republika Srpska, the Republican Organization of Families of Captured and Killed Soldiers and Missing Civilians, the Association of Detainees, the Association of Organizations and Associations of Disabled War Veterans, women victims of war, veterans and elders gathered Army of the RS.
In addition to representatives of veterans’ organizations, there are also officials from Republika Srpska, including BiH Presidency member Željka Cvijanović and RS Prime Minister Radovan Višković, before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In October, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina noted that they pleaded not guilty because both of them said at the hearing that they did not understand the indictment for the criminal offense of failure to execute the decisions of the high representative.
As stated in the indictment, Dodik and Lukić from July 1 to 9 of this year in Banja Luka, knowingly and knowing that High Representative Kristijan Šmit made a decision preventing the entry into force of the Law on Non-Enforcement of Decisions of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, undertook official actions in order to continue the legislative procedure.
