The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has declared inadmissible the appeal filed by Milorad Dodik against a ruling of the courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which last year sentenced him to prison and removed him from his position as president of the Bosnian Serb entity Republika Srpska.
The decision was confirmed on Tuesday by the European Court of Human Rights to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, stating that the ruling was issued by a single judge in May.
Dodik had filed his complaint in January, claiming that his rights were violated by the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which in the summer of 2025 sentenced him to one year in prison and imposed a six-year ban from holding office. The conviction was related to his refusal to comply with decisions of the international High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Strasbourg court did not provide detailed reasoning publicly but said the explanation is contained in the judge’s decision, issued under Rule 52A of the Court’s procedure. This rule allows a single judge to reject an application as inadmissible at an early stage without examining the merits in detail.
Such decisions are final, include only brief reasoning, and cannot be appealed.
The court noted that applications may be rejected for several reasons, including failure to exhaust domestic remedies, late submission, or if the case is considered manifestly ill-founded. It may also reject cases if they fall outside the Court’s jurisdiction or if the applicant has not suffered significant disadvantage.
This decision follows a previous rejection of a separate request by Dodik. In April, he had sought an interim measure under Rule 39 to suspend the enforcement of domestic court decisions against him in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Such measures are granted only in exceptional cases where there is a risk of irreparable harm to fundamental rights.
Dodik left his position as president of Republika Srpska at the end of last year after his conviction was upheld by domestic judicial institutions.
