Court sentences separatist Bosnian Serb president Dodik to one year in prison
The leader and his lawyers were not in the court during the sentencing.
A court in Bosnia has sentenced pro-Russian Bosnian Serb President Milorad Dodik to one year in prison and banned him from engaging in politics for six years because of his separatist actions.
The landmark ruling by the court in Sarajevo came after a year-long trial against Dodik on charges that he disobeyed the top international envoy overseeing peace in the Balkan country.
The leader and his lawyers were not in the court during the sentencing.
Dodik has said that he would disobey any conviction and threatened “radical measures” in response, including the eventual secession of the Serb-run entity in Bosnia called Republika Srpska from the rest of the country.
Dodik’s separatist threat stoked fears in Bosnia, where ethnic carnage from 1992-95 left 100,000 people killed and displaced millions.
The US-sponsored Dayton Accords ended the war nearly three decades ago.
The two regions were given wide autonomy, but kept some joint institutions, including the army, top judiciary and tax administration.
Bosnia also has a rotating three-member presidency made up of Bosniak, Serb and Croat members.
Dodik was in the Bosnian Serb administrative capital Banja Luka, where thousands gathered on Wednesday in his support.
“They say I am guilty, but now people here will say why I am not guilty,” Dodik told the crowd shortly after the verdict was announced.
“There is no reason to worry. I have learned to deal with tougher situations. It is important that you are here.”
In neighbouring Serbia, populist President Aleksandar Vucic called an urgent session of the national security council there.
Dodik is unlikely to be sent to prison, because he enjoys the full support of Mr Vucic, who can provide shelter to him in Belgrade. Dodik is also expected to appeal against the conviction.
Dodik told the crowd in Banja Luka that he spoke on the phone with Mr Vucic and with Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whom he called a friend. He invited Mr Vucic to come to Banja Luka to discuss “what we are going to do next”.
Dodik said the Bosnian Serb parliament will vote later on Wednesday to reject the legal proceedings against him.
Legislators will also approve several laws banning the work of central Bosnian legal institutions from the Serb-controlled half of Bosnia, he said.
Dodik has repeatedly clashed with top international envoy Christian Schmidt and declared his decisions illegal in Republika Srpska.
The Dayton peace agreement envisages that the high representative can impose decisions and change laws in the country.
The war in Bosnia erupted when the country’s Serbs rebelled against the country’s independence from the former Yugoslavia and moved to form a mini-state of their own with the aim of uniting it with neighbouring Serbia.
