A public session of the Appeals Council of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the case against Milorad Dodik, President of Republika Srpska (RS), and Miloš Lukić, director of the Official Gazette of RS, has been scheduled for June 12, the court announced.
On February 26, the Court of BiH found Dodik guilty in a first-instance verdict for disrespecting decisions of the High Representative Christian Schmidt by signing decrees to enact laws previously annulled by Schmidt.
These laws aimed to block implementation of decisions made by the Constitutional Court of BiH and the High Representative within the RS territory, including laws concerning state property registration and public holidays.
Miloš Lukić was acquitted of the charges.
Dodik’s defense appealed the verdict, which sentenced him to one year in prison and banned him from political activity for six years.
A day after the ruling, on February 27, the RS National Assembly passed laws criminalizing and banning the work of state police and judiciary institutions in RS.
These laws were temporarily suspended by the Constitutional Court of BiH on March 7.
Additionally, RS leaders Milorad Dodik, Prime Minister Radovan Višković, and Assembly Speaker Nenad Stevandić are under investigation for attacking the constitutional order, and warrants have been issued for their arrest.
The RS Assembly has also adopted a Draft Constitution, proposing that RS be defined as a “state of the Serb people”, granting it self-determination, forming its own military, and abolishing both the Council of Peoples and vice presidents from other constituent peoples.
