Media reports Interpol taking into account detention warrants for Serb presidents

(MENAFN) Interpol is reportedly contemplating issuing international arrest warrants for Milorad Dodik, the president of Republika Srpska, and Nenad Stevandic, the parliament speaker of the Serb-majority region in Bosnia and Herzegovina. These leaders face accusations of undermining the constitutional order and violating Bosnia’s Criminal Code. The arrest warrants have been distributed to Interpol member states, but they have not yet been authorized by the Interpol General Secretariat, according to the Serbian newspaper Politika.

Republika Srpska, a self-governing entity within Bosnia, was created following the 1995 Dayton Agreement that ended the brutal Bosnian War, dividing the country into two entities—Republika Srpska and a federation comprising Bosniaks and Croats. Bosnia’s governance is led by a three-member presidency, representing Bosniaks, Serbs, and Croats.

Bosnian prosecutors recently issued arrest warrants for Dodik, Stevandic, and Prime Minister Radovan Viskovic, accusing them of attacking the country’s constitutional order by passing laws limiting the powers of Bosnia's state-level judiciary and law enforcement. Last month, Dodik was sentenced to a year in prison for obstructing decisions by Bosnia's constitutional court and disregarding the authority of international envoy Christian Schmidt.

Dodik has rejected the charges, calling them politically motivated, and vowed to block any enforcement of the court’s decisions in Republika Srpska. The cases have provoked a strong reaction in Serbia, where Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin condemned the Bosnian actions as politically driven, while Moscow also criticized the convictions, warning that such moves could destabilize the Balkans.

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