President of the Serbian Region Milorad Dodik (Vyacheslav Prokofyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
The trial of Bosnian Serb nationalist leader Milorad Dodik, president of the Serbian region of Bosnia and Herzegovina, began on Wednesday. Dodik is accused of disrespecting the authority and decisions of the UN international envoy responsible for ensuring peace in the country. Dodik faces up to five years in prison and a ban on holding political office: He claims the trial is political and defines the United Nations High Representative as an “unelected foreigner.”
The trial comes after a conflict that has been going on for several years since the German Christian Schmidt became High Representative. At the end of the war in Bosnia in 1995, the Dayton Peace Accords established the division of Bosnia into two semi-autonomous regions, one with a Serb majority and the other called the Bosnian-Croat Federation. The United Nations international envoy was entrusted with the task of guaranteeing peace, as well as the power to repeal laws and dismiss officials who were seen as an obstacle to the maintenance of peace.
Instead, Dodik introduced a series of laws that limited the powers of national authorities, never recognized the figure of the High Representative, and repeatedly threatened to secede Serbian territory. He is considered an ally of Russia, while his secessionist projects do not receive the support of neighboring Serbia.
Continue with the post