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.
BMW is recalling more than 720,000 vehicles in the U.S. over a fire risk, warning owners to park outside and away from buildings until repairs are ...
Tajikistan has urged the international community to increase funding to protect shrinking glaciers and help mountain communities adapt to climate c...
A new study in mice suggests the brain’s protective barrier does more than block harmful substances. It also delivers essential proteins from...
European leaders gathered in Dublin on Thursday, 12 November, for the ninth European Political Community (EPC) summit, with security, defence and energy high on the agenda. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev held talks focused on peace, trade and regional cooperation.
Iran will not let a single particle of its enriched nuclear material leave the country, and any new U.S. attack would be met with strikes on distant American bases, Iranian security chief Mohsen Rezaei has said.
Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang is stepping down amid reports linking him to a woman suspected by U.S. authorities of spying for China, throwing the future of the $4 trillion chipmaker into uncertainty.
Kazakhstan’s security service has arrested Nurlan Zhakupov, CEO of Samruk-Kazyna, the country’s sovereign wealth fund, on suspicion of corruption. Yelzhas Otynshiyev, Chairman of KTZ, Kazakhstan’s national railway firm has also been detained.
Eight people have been killed and at least 17 injured after an apartment building collapsed into a neighbouring construction site in Brooklyn, New York, as rescuers continued searching the rubble for possible survivors.
BMW is recalling more than 720,000 vehicles in the U.S. over a fire risk, warning owners to park outside and away from buildings until repairs are completed. The recall follows 10 reported fires involving cars previously repaired for the same fault.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says 3.7 million children in Afghanistan are suffering from acute malnutrition, as worsening drought and funding shortages threaten to deepen the crisis amid the COP31 climate summit in Türkiye.
A consortium of Türkiye’s Limak and Qatar’s HBK Contracting has won an international tender to build and operate a new airport terminal in Bukhara, Uzbekistan, under a 23-year public-private partnership, with the project potentially costing up to $300 million.
Spain’s parliament has approved a government package aimed at easing the country’s housing crisis, a day after workers staged the first general strike in 14 years over soaring housing costs.
Here's your AnewZ Technology Daily Brief for the 13th of November. This week, a Microsoft outage hit Australian agencies, Google restricted mapping data in South Korea, a lawsuit targeted advanced AI development, and Nvidia faced a leadership crisis after Jensen Huang's resignation.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment