The BiH Prosecutor's Office has decided to detain the President of Republika Srpska Dodik

The Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has decided to detain the President and Prime Minister of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik and Radovan Viskovic. This was reported on March 12 by the Dnevni Avaz newspaper.

It is clarified that the politicians are accused of allegedly encroaching on the constitutional order.

"The decree was signed by Prosecutor Chazim Hasanspahic, who accuses them of "attacking the constitutional order," the publication says.

Dodik's lawyer Goran Bubic stated that, as the president's legal representative, he was not informed of the existence of the subpoena, which was served by the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

On February 26, a court in Bosnia and Herzegovina sentenced Dodik to a year in prison in absentia and banned him from political activity for six years. This decision can be appealed.

On the same day, the Serbian publication Vreme reported that in June 2023, Dodik signed a decree according to which the decisions of the Constitutional Court of BiH were considered invalid on the territory of Republika Srpska. As a result, in August of the same year, the President of the autonomy was criminally charged with disobeying the High Representative for BiH, Christian Schmidt, approved by the UN Security Council (SC).

The Russian Foreign Ministry called Dodik's sentence "an undisguised mockery of the foundations of the rule of law." The President of Republika Srpska, in turn, indicated that the autonomy would not take the verdict into account because it was based on the decision of Schmidt, a foreigner who had no legitimate authority without a UN appointment.