Dodik charged with failing to apply, implement decisions of high representative, international envoy meant to carry out 1995 peace agreement
A Bosnian court on Wednesday sentenced Serb leader Milorad Dodik to a year in prison and a six-year political ban for flouting decisions by the envoy who implements the landmark 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement.
Dodik was convicted, in his role as Republika Srpska president, for failing to apply and implement the decisions of the high representative for Bosnia Herzegovina.
Milos Lukic, acting director of the Official Gazette of Republika Srpska, was acquitted of the same charges.
Neither of the defendants or their lawyers were in court to hear the verdict, but both have the right to appeal.
Dodik and Lukic were accused over their conduct in July 2023 in Banja Luka – the largest city in Republika Srpska – which failed to implement the decisions of High Representative Christian Schmidt, knowing that he had issued a decision preventing the entry into force of two laws.
Failure to comply with the high representative’s decisions is a criminal offense, punishable by six months to five years behind bars.
In closing arguments for the one-year trial, prosecutors requested a sentence closer to the legal maximum and a ban on holding public office for 10 years. The defense sought an acquittal.
Powers of high representative
Since the start of the trial, Dodik has been putting pressure on the court, with his supporters amassing in front of the court building before each hearing.
The high representative, established in the Dayton Peace Agreement that ended the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia Herzegovina, oversees implementation of the accord on behalf of the international community.
The representative has the authority to dismiss anyone who interferes with the implementation of peace in the country, including members of the tripartite Presidential Council, and to pass laws as necessary.
The extraordinary powers of the Peace Implementation Council were entrusted to the high representative in 1997 during a meeting in Germany.
More than 200 health facilities in war-hit eastern Congo have run out of medicines due to widespread looting and supply chain disruptions during fight...
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi rejected as “incorrect” the report by a Kuwaiti newspaper on recent contacts between Tehran and Washington ...
The 7th Moscow Format Consultations on Afghanistan has concluded in Russia with participants issuing a joint statement heavily hinting at a joint oppo...
Former FBI Director James Comey pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to criminal charges, and his lawyer said he would file a barrage of legal challenges t...
Georgia’s Foreign Minister, Maka Bochorishvili sought to reassure the public that there is “no danger” to Georgia’s status as the European Uni...
Thousands of protesters marched through Belgrade on Wednesday night, nearly a year after a deadly station collapse sparked a nationwide anti-government movement.
A Serbian prosecutor on Tuesday indicted 13 people, including a former minister over their role in a railway station roof collapse last year that killed 16 people and triggered months of nationwide anti-government protests.
Serbian police used tear gas and stun grenades Friday to disperse protesters at a university campus in Novi Sad demanding early elections and the resignation of President Aleksandar Vucic and his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS).
Tens of thousands of people staged a silent march in Belgrade on Monday (September 1) to honour the 16 victims of a collapsed roof at a renovated railway station, while calling for snap elections aimed at unseating President Aleksandar Vucic and his ruling SNS party.
Video from the USGS (United States Geological Survey) showed on Friday (19 September) the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii erupting and spewing lava.
At least eight people have died and more than 90 others were injured following a catastrophic gas tanker explosion on a major highway in Mexico City’s Iztapalapa district on Wednesday, authorities confirmed.
At least 69 people have died and almost 150 injured following a powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Cebu City in the central Visayas region of the Philippines, officials said, making it one of the country’s deadliest disasters this year.
A powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula on 13 September with no tsunami threat, coming just weeks after the region endured a devastating 8.8-magnitude quake — the strongest since 1952.
Authorities in California have identified the dismembered body discovered in a Tesla registered to singer D4vd as 15-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who had been missing from Lake Elsinore since April 2024.
Escalating gang violence in Haiti has displaced 680,000 children, nearly twice as many as last year, as armed groups seize more territory and basic services collapse, UNICEF warned on Wednesday.
A 29-year-old man has been arrested in connection with a devastating wildfire that killed 12 people and destroyed thousands of homes in Los Angeles earlier this year.
The 7th Moscow Format Consultations on Afghanistan has concluded in Russia with participants issuing a joint statement heavily hinting at a joint opposition to any foreign military infrastructure in Afghanistan.
Former FBI Director James Comey pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to criminal charges, and his lawyer said he would file a barrage of legal challenges to the first prosecution by the Justice Department against one of President Donald Trump's political enemies.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to attend a ministerial meeting in Paris on Thursday with representatives of Europe, the Arab world and other nations to discuss Gaza's post-conflict transition, according to three diplomatic sources.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment