SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — The Bosnian Serb legislators on Thursday ratified a series of statutes prohibiting the central Bosnian judiciary and police from operating within their territory in Bosnia. This move has resulted in escalating tensions in the troubled Balkan nation following the conviction of the pro-Russia Bosnian Serb president by a court and subsequent ban from political activities. Milorad Dodik, the president of Republika Srpska, the Serb-dominated region of Bosnia, was handed a one-year prison sentence and a six-year prohibition from political engagement for defying directives from the highest international authority in Bosnia.
The separatist Bosnian Serb leader has characterized the verdict as an assault on all Bosnian Serbs and their self-declared mini-state that emerged after the 1992-1995 conflict. He has declared intentions to take “drastic measures” in response, including the eventual secession of the territory from Bosnia. The legislative acts adopted in the Bosnian Serb assembly on Thursday refute the jurisdiction of Bosnian prosecutors, the nation’s central court, and its security agency, dealing a blow to the fragile unity of Bosnia, consisting of the Serb-administered entity and a Bosniak-Croat section connected through joint governmental bodies.
The laws garnered 49 affirmative votes in the 83-member assembly. Critics have cautioned that the laws are in violation of Bosnia’s constitution and are likely to exacerbate tensions in a nation where ethnic conflicts claimed the lives of 100,000 individuals and displaced millions three decades ago. The conflict in Bosnia culminated in a peace agreement brokered by the United States in 1995, establishing the two entities with substantial autonomy while maintaining a shared military, supreme judiciary, and tax administration. Additionally, Bosnia has a rotating tripartite presidency comprising Bosniak, Serb, and Croat representatives.
The Dayton Accords also stipulated that the international envoy overseeing peace would possess the authority to amend laws and enforce decisions in Bosnia. Dodik has persistently advocated for the incorporation of the Serb-administered region into neighboring Serbia, leading the former U.S. administration to impose sanctions against him and his close associates. Dodik has received backing from Russia for his policies.
During the assembly deliberations, Dodik emphasized that the objective was not secession but rather the restoration of elements of autonomy initially outlined in the Dayton peace agreements but purportedly stripped from the entity. “There is no cause to halt; we are restructuring what was artificially imposed,” he asserted. “We have been preparing for this for years.” The conflict in Bosnia arose when the country’s Serbs resisted independence from the former Yugoslavia, striving to establish their own quasi-independent state with aspirations of unification with Serbia.
