Arrest warrant dropped against Bosnian Serb leader, wanted over accusations of 'attacking the constitutional order'
After months of ignoring calls from him to speak with the authorities, Dodik voluntarily reported to the public prosecutor's office, accompanied by his lawyer, "to be questioned as a suspect in the investigation," the prosecutor's office and Bosnian State Court said in a joint statement. The court then accepted prosecutors' proposal to "terminate" the warrant, and Dodik was given conditional release, it said.
Since the end of its bloody inter-ethnic war in 1995, Bosnia has been split between two autonomous halves − the Serbs' Republika Srpska and a Muslim-Croat Federation. Each has its own government and parliament, with only weak central institutions binding the country of 3.5 million people together.
Dodik, the president of Republika Srpska, has been wanted by the Bosnian authorities since March 18 for banning the central police and judiciary − a move deemed secessionist by prosecutors. In February, Dodik, 66, was sentenced to one year in prison and banned from holding political office for six years for failing to comply with decisions of the international high representative who oversees the peace accord that ended Bosnia's bloody inter-ethnic war in 1995.
His move to ban the central police and judiciary came in reaction to the sentence, which plunged Bosnia into a political and institutional crisis, described by many as the most serious since the end of the war.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Euronews
07-08-2025
- Euronews
Electoral authorities strip Bosnian Serb leader Dodik of presidency
Bosnia's electoral authorities stripped Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik of his presidency Wednesday after a state-level appeals chamber upheld a verdict sentencing him to a six-year ban from politics. The late February ruling by the Sarajevo-based Court of BiH over anti-constitutional conduct triggered a prolonged high-tension political crisis in the Western Balkan country that has since simmered down to a steady boil. However, the heat was back on after the court's appeals chamber confirmed the original verdict against Dodik, who holds the office of president of the Republika Srpska (RS), one of Bosnia and Herzegovina's main administrative units. This meant that the Central Electoral Committee, or CIK, had to open the procedure under electoral law of removing him from office and calling snap elections in the RS to fill the vacated position within 90 days. Dodik, who reacted to Wednesday's decision by stating it was "yet another sh*tshow from Sarajevo", can appeal the electoral body's decision. "There's no surrender or giving up. Surrender is not an option," Dodik said in a post on X. He has vowed to stay on as entity president regardless of CIK's dismissal. Dodik's legal representatives have already announced he will also open a separate case against the original ruling in front of the state-level Constitutional Court. It is unclear how long these processes might take. A general election in Bosnia is set for autumn 2026. Meanwhile, Dodik has attempted to rally all Bosnian Serb political actors to stand behind him in defiance of the court decisions. However, the opposition parties have largely refused to do so so far. The EU's diplomatic service (EEAS) spokesperson said last Friday that the Court of BiH's "verdict is binding and must be respected." "The EU calls on all parties to acknowledge the independence and impartiality of the court, and to respect and uphold its verdict," the statement said. In turn, Dodik has received support from Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova. Months-long pushback Since February, Dodik has repeatedly rejected the verdict of one year in prison and barred him from politics for six years for going against the decisions of the country's international peace envoy, Christian Schmidt, which constitutes a criminal act. In the RS, he introduced new laws meant to ban the operation of state-level security and judicial institutions in what comprises about half of the Western Balkan country's territory. The decisions have been temporarily suspended by the state-level Constitutional Court. "As far as I'm concerned, that verdict doesn't exist, and it is null and void," Dodik told Euronews Serbia in a June interview. Dodik has also continuously questioned the legitimacy of High Representative Schmidt, saying he acted against "imposed decisions" by the envoy whose mandate, Dodik claims, contradicts the Dayton Agreement, signed in 1995 to end the war in the country. The agreement brought about the end of the war between the country's three main ethnic groups — Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats — that began in 1992 during the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia, deemed as the bloodiest conflict on European soil since World War II. The High Representative is meant to act as the chief arbiter in high-profile disputes and the key figure overseeing the implementation of the deal. The peace agreement, parts of which act as the country's constitution, split the country into two main administrative units, or entities: the Serb-majority RS and the Bosniak-Croat Federation of BiH (FBiH), partially overseen by an umbrella state-level government. Meant to appease the former belligerents, it created a complicated system of checks and balances, said to be the world's most complex democracy. Dodik, who has served in various top roles, including the state-level presidency, for decades, has repeatedly called for the independence of the RS from the rest of Bosnia, fuelling fears of instability. He has been placed under US and British sanctions for his actions, but has had the steady support of Moscow. Test of post-war stability Dodik's ongoing challenge to the High Representative and state-level institutions' authority has been deemed to be the EU membership hopeful's biggest test of post-war stability. The Court of BiH issued a nationwide arrest warrant for Dodik in March. Since then, he travelled to neighbouring Serbia, Israel and Russia, where he attended the 9 May Victory Day celebrations in Moscow, organised by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Back home, tensions flared up once again in late April after state-level security agency inspectors tried to arrest Dodik, but were prevented from doing so. While the details around the incident remained unclear, domestic media reported that SIPA agents left after 'talking' to the RS police. Dodik later said he felt 'fine and safe". The crisis over his potential arrest was somewhat defused in July, when Dodik voluntarily came in for questioning at the state-level prosecutor's office, after which the warrant was dropped. According to Bosnian law, Dodik can pay a fine for each day of his one-year prison sentence instead of serving time in jail. The European peacekeeping force in Bosnia, EUFOR, had stepped up the number of its troops in response to the tensions earlier this year. In March, NATO's Secretary General Mark Rutte pledged the military alliance's "unwavering" support for Bosnia's territorial integrity. "Three decades after the Dayton Peace Agreement, I can tell you: NATO remains firmly committed to the stability of this region and to the security of Bosnia and Herzegovina," Rutte said at the time. "We will not allow hard-won peace to be jeopardised."
Euronews
06-08-2025
- Euronews
Croatian MEP's wartime photo causes a stir in neighbouring Serbia
A social media post by the European Parliament's rapporteur for Serbia Tonino Picula created a stir in neighbouring Serbia and prompted calls for his removal from his position. Picula, a member of Croatia's centre-left SDP party, tweeted on Tuesday to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Operation Storm, a military operation that effectively put an end to the ethnic Serb parastate and the years-long war in the country. In the photo, a visibly younger Picula in military uniform brandishes a heavy machine gun. "Let us thank everyone who contributed to the defence of the sovereignty and freedom of the Republic of Croatia," the post read. Picula fought on the side of the Croatian army and took part in the Operation Storm, and has previously publicly shared photos from the frontlines. Reactions were swift. Following the condemnation on social networks and in Serbian media, opposition SSP party leader Dragan Đilas criticised Picula, saying the MEP "compromised his position ... because you can't be a rapporteur with an automatic gun in your hands." "We believed you were a man of the future and not of the past. And it was like that until today," Đilas said in a statement on Tuesday. Austrian MEP Harald Vilimsky from the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) and European spokesperson for the Vienna FPÖ parliamentary group Maximilian Krauss slammed what they said was "disturbing and politically highly dangerous". "It is completely inappropriate for an EU rapporteur, who plays a key role in the sensitive dialogue between the EU and Serbia, to post a picture in combat gear, thereby offending many people. This is a serious diplomatic misstep," Vilimsky said in a statement released on Tuesday. "With this post, Picula has impressively demonstrated that he is unsuitable for this role. Anyone who publicly celebrates a military presence while simultaneously issuing constitutional recommendations to Serbia is squandering all credibility. This is an affront to all the victims and displaced persons of this tragedy," Krauss added. The two FPÖ politicians have requested an immediate investigation into Picula's actions by relevant EU authorities, they said. Operation Storm, which took place over the course of four days in early August 1995, remains a contested issue between the two neighbouring countries. Croatia's declaration of independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991 triggered a rebellion by minority ethnic Serbs who took control of about one-fifth of the country's territory in the Belgrade-backed parastate of the Republic of Serb Krajina. Croatia retook all of its territory in the 1995 military action. UN estimated that around 150,000 ethnic Serbs fled to what is today Serbia and Montenegro, and between 10,000 and 15,000 arrived in the general area of Banja Luka in neighbouring Bosnia. Serbia claims the number surpasses 250,000, on top of numerous civilian victims during the offensive. Most ethnic Serbs have not returned to Croatia following Operation Storm, and the minority now comprises around 3.2% of Croatia's population, according to the 2021 census, significantly less than 12.2% in 1991. This is not the first time that Picula has faced criticism in Serbia. In May, Serbian Parliament Speaker Ana Brnabić accused Picula of interference in the domestic affairs of the Western Balkan country after Picula retorted that the statements of President Aleksandar Vučić were becoming "more and more bizarre". Brnabić accused the Croatian MEP of being part of a witch hunt against a sovereign country, saying, "Picula, stay away from Serbia". Picula has repeatedly rejected accusations of harbouring "anti-Serb" sentiments. Euronews has reached out to MEP Picula for comment.
LeMonde
06-08-2025
- LeMonde
Bosnian Serb President Dodik formally ousted after being given one-year jail term
Bosnia's electoral commission said Wednesday, August 6 that the Bosnian Serb entity president, Milorad Dodik, had been formally stripped of his post after he was sentenced to a one-year jail term. The Republika Srpska president was given the prison sentence and banned from public office for six years after being found guilty of flouting the rulings of the international envoy who monitors the peace accords that ended the country's 1990 war. The electoral body decided to apply the law, which lays down that an elected official is automatically forced out of office if sentenced to more than six months in jail, commission member Suad Arnautovic told reporters. He added though that an appeal can still be made to the Bosnian State Court. Dodik's lawyer, Goran Bubic, has already said that new legal action would be taken after the appeal court verdict. The 66-year-old Dodik, who has headed the Serb-dominated Republika Srpska since 2006, had condemned last Friday's appeal court verdict as a "political" trial and a "blow" to the Serb entity "orchestrated by the European Union." Bosnia has been divided between the Serb and Bosnian-Croat entities since the 1992-95 war that left tens of thousands dead. It is bound together by weak central institutions. Dodik, 66, was prosecuted for passing two laws in 2023 that banned the application in the Serb entity of decisions by the international high representative and Bosnia's federal constitutional court. Dodik rejects the authority of the international representative, currently Christian Schmidt, who started in 2021. Dodik says the former German minister is "illegal" as his nomination has not been approved by the UN Security Council.
