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Bosnian authorities issue arrest warrants for Bosnian Serb leadership
(MENAFN) Bosnian authorities have issued arrest warrants for Republika Srpska’s President Milorad Dodik, Prime Minister Radovan Viskovic, and Parliament Speaker Nenad Stevandic, accusing them of undermining the country’s constitutional order. The charges stem from laws passed in the Serb-majority entity that limit the authority of Bosnia’s state judiciary and law enforcement agencies.
Bosnia and Herzegovina has remained divided into two self-governing entities—the Republika Srpska and a Bosniak-Croat Federation—since the US-brokered 1995 Dayton Agreement ended the country’s brutal civil war. The complex political system includes a three-member presidency representing the country’s main ethnic groups.
Despite the Sarajevo-based Prosecutor’s Office issuing the warrants, officials in Banja Luka, the administrative center of Republika Srpska, do not recognize its authority. The arrest orders were issued after Dodik, Viskovic, and Stevandic ignored two summonses for questioning, according to Serb Republic television.
Last month, a Sarajevo court sentenced Dodik to one year in prison and barred him from holding presidential office for six years after he defied Bosnia’s constitutional court and the authority of international envoy Christian Schmidt. In response, Republika Srpska’s National Assembly passed laws barring Bosnia’s state judiciary and police from operating within its territory. The country’s Constitutional Court temporarily suspended the legislation on March 6, but Dodik insists it will be enforced.
Radovan Kovacevic, a spokesman for Dodik’s Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, rejected claims that Republika Srpska is attacking Bosnia’s constitutional order, arguing that its leadership is acting within its constitutional rights.
Meanwhile, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin has strongly condemned the arrest warrants, calling them an act of political revenge against Dodik and Republika Srpska’s leadership. He warned that Serbia would not allow the detentions to take place.
Under Bosnian law, individuals can be summoned for questioning twice before a detention order is issued. If Dodik, Viskovic, and Stevandic continue to resist, national arrest warrants may follow.
Bosnia and Herzegovina has remained divided into two self-governing entities—the Republika Srpska and a Bosniak-Croat Federation—since the US-brokered 1995 Dayton Agreement ended the country’s brutal civil war. The complex political system includes a three-member presidency representing the country’s main ethnic groups.
Despite the Sarajevo-based Prosecutor’s Office issuing the warrants, officials in Banja Luka, the administrative center of Republika Srpska, do not recognize its authority. The arrest orders were issued after Dodik, Viskovic, and Stevandic ignored two summonses for questioning, according to Serb Republic television.
Last month, a Sarajevo court sentenced Dodik to one year in prison and barred him from holding presidential office for six years after he defied Bosnia’s constitutional court and the authority of international envoy Christian Schmidt. In response, Republika Srpska’s National Assembly passed laws barring Bosnia’s state judiciary and police from operating within its territory. The country’s Constitutional Court temporarily suspended the legislation on March 6, but Dodik insists it will be enforced.
Radovan Kovacevic, a spokesman for Dodik’s Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, rejected claims that Republika Srpska is attacking Bosnia’s constitutional order, arguing that its leadership is acting within its constitutional rights.
Meanwhile, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin has strongly condemned the arrest warrants, calling them an act of political revenge against Dodik and Republika Srpska’s leadership. He warned that Serbia would not allow the detentions to take place.
Under Bosnian law, individuals can be summoned for questioning twice before a detention order is issued. If Dodik, Viskovic, and Stevandic continue to resist, national arrest warrants may follow.
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