Bosnia’s Supreme Court upholds political ban on Bosnian Serb leader Dodik | Court News

The Constitutional Court rejected Milorad Dodik’s appeal, finding that the former president’s right to a fair trial had not been violated.

The Supreme Court in Bosnia and Herzegovina has rejected an appeal by the Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik Against the verdict that kept him out of politics.

The Constitutional Court ruling was Dodik’s last legal recourse before the country’s judiciary, months after a Sarajevo court found him guilty of refusing to comply with rulings issued by an international envoy. Monitoring the country’s peace accords.

Dodik, the former president of Bosnia’s autonomous Serb Republic, or Republika Srpska, was sentenced in February. One year in prison Bosnia’s 1990 war ended in defiance of Christian Schmidt, the German diplomat responsible for defending the 1995 peace accord.

He was banned from holding political office for six years and stripped of his presidency.

Dodik, a pro-Russian nationalist who has pushed for Republika Srpska to secede and join Serbia, had rejected the decision and vowed to challenge his political ban.

The case goes back to July 2023, when Dodik passed legislation in the Republika Srpska parliament to ban the enforcement of all decisions issued by Schmidt, an international envoy.

In response, Schmidt used his executive powers to amend Bosnia’s criminal code. A new crime The charge on which Dodik was convicted – of failing to follow through on his own decisions.

In their Constitutional Court appeal, Dodik’s lawyers argued that Schmidt did not have the power to intervene in the criminal code, saying only the national parliament had the right to do so.

But the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Dodik’s claims challenging Schmidt’s status and authority were “baseless.”

“The appellant’s right to a fair trial was not violated in the criminal proceedings against him,” it said in a statement.

Dodik’s lawyers have already announced that they will take the case to the European Court of Human Rights.

Dodik and his legal team did not immediately comment on Tuesday’s decision.

Last month, the Parliament of Republika Srpska Appointed Ana Trisic Babic As interim president ahead of the November 23 election.