The President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, confirmed that he will not appear at his verdict hearing on Wednesday for the indictment of non-compliance with the decisions of the High Representative of the international community.
Speculation that Dodik would not attend the verdict had surfaced earlier, as his lawyer had left this option open, and now comes the official confirmation.
“I made a decision. I will not go, and I don’t have to go. No one is asking me to go,” Dodik said when asked by Le Monde.
He also urged his supporters, who regularly gathered in front of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina during the judicial process, not to go to Sarajevo on Wednesday. Instead, he invited them to Banja Luka for a rally related to this case. He and his associates have threatened radical measures in the event of a conviction.
Prosecutor Nedim Qosić requested in the last session that Dodik and the Director of the Official Gazette of RS, Miloš Llukić, be found guilty and sentenced to prison near the maximum allowed by law, which could be up to five years.
He also requested that Dodik and Llukić be banned from holding positions in the executive or legislative bodies for a ten-year period, which would effectively push the current President of Republika Srpska into political retirement, as he would no longer have the right to run for office.
Dodik and his close associates have been threatening “radical measures” for days if the verdict is guilty, but he only clarified on Friday what exactly that might entail.
“This means that Republika Srpska will annul any presence of the court and prosecutor’s office of the Office (BiH), the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA), and other artificial and extra-constitutional entities imposed at the level of BiH, and will halt their work on the territory.”
