The first-instance verdict against Milorad Dodik, President of Republika Srpska, by the top court in Bosnia and Herzegovina, has sparked tensions in BiH and posed a threat to a fragile stability in the country. Shortly after the ruling was delivered, the National Assembly of Republika Srpska adopted the law that banned Bosnia’s central police and judicial authorities from acting on the territory of this entity.
The verdict against Dodik, which sentenced him to one year in prison and barred him from politics for six years, came after a year-long trial on charges that he failed to obey the decisions of Christian Schmidt, High Representative of the International Community in BiH. Dodik’s co-accused, the former acting director of Republika Srpska’s Official Gazette, Miloš Lukić, was acquitted. The second-instance verdict is expected to be delivered by the end of this year.
