Milorad Dodik, the pro-Russian leader of the Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina, remained without the mandate of president

The political leader of the Serbs in Bosnia, Milorad Dodik, was officially dismissed from the position of president of the Serbian entity, following his conviction for violating the mandate of an international sending with the application of the Peace Agreement in the country, the electoral commission, quoted by AFP and Agerpres announced.

Dodik, 66, was sentenced on Friday by a Sarajevo Court of Appeal to a year in prison and to the prohibition to serve as president of the Republic of Srpska (RS), the Serbian entity in Bosnia for six years.

The members of the Electoral Commission (CIK) made a “declarative decision (…) by applying the law”, namely that an elected official is automatically dismissed if he is definitively sentenced to more than six months in prison, a member of CIK, SMAD Arnautovic told the press.

This decision of CIK is not yet final and “it can be appealed to the Bosnia State Court, if the lawyer (Dodik) decides to submit such an appeal,” Arnautovic explained.

Dodik's lawyer, Goran Bubic, had already announced that he would notify the justice.

The Serbian leader accuses that the decision was “orchestrated” by the European Union

Milorad Dodik, who has run RS since 2006, having successively high political functions, rejected the decision pronounced by a court of appeal, denouncing it as a “coup” against the Serbian entity and describing the process as a “political” one.

“I did not commit any criminal act provided by the laws of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The court of appeal confirmed the decision of first court, in which he had been convicted in February for the promulgation of two laws in July 2023, which prohibited the implementation on the territory of the Serbian entity-half of the country-the decisions of the High Representative for International Relations in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Decisions of the Constitutional Court.

Bosnia is divided into two autonomous, Serbian and Croato-Bosnian entities, united by a central government.

Milorad Dodik rejected the authority of the High Representative for International Cooperation, Christian Schmidt, a German politician who has taken over in August 2021. Dodik has argued since the arrival of this official in Bosnia that his authority is “illegal”, on the grounds that his appointment was not validated by the UN Security Council.

With extraordinary powers that allow him to impose laws and even dismiss the elected officials, the High Representative ensures the respect of the Dayton Peace Agreement, signed almost 30 years ago, at the end of a bloody civil war that lasted over 3 years.