President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik will respond to the summons of the Court of BiH and, with his legal team, attend the main trial, confirmed Goran Bubić, the attorney of the President of Srpska, for RTRS.
Bubić stated that the Court has not yet responded to yesterday’s defense request for the trial against the President of Srpska and the acting director of the Official Gazette, Miloš Lukić, to be transferred to the Basic Court in Banja Luka.
Apart from attorney Bubić, members of the wider defense team for the President of Srpska, including attorneys Goran Petronijević and Anto Nobilo, will also attend the main trial.
Petronijević highlighted to Tanjug that several colleagues from the International Law Institute will also be present in court to explain the regularity of this procedure to the public.
“What they accuse Dodik of is a form of immense hypocrisy, it’s like suing a patriarch for baptizing us. To sue Dodik for signing the Decree on the entry into force or the execution of the law adopted by the National Assembly of Republika Srpska as a representative body. He was obliged to sign the act adopted in the Parliament,” said Petronijević.
Petronijević stated that if Dodik hadn’t acted in accordance with the decision of the NSRS, it would have been a violation of the Constitution, carrying a prison sentence of up to 12 years. He explained that behind all of this are attacks on Republika Srpska and its property, stemming from disagreement with the decision to transfer certain property rights from Srpska to the Federation of BiH.
This concerns ownership rights over forests and areas where barracks are located.
As Petronijević reminded, neither the NSRS nor Dodik agreed with that strike, so the Decree was adopted in the Republika Srpska Parliament not to publish that decision on property rights in the Official Gazette of Srpska.
After signing the Decree and its publication in the Official Gazette of Republika Srpska, the President of Republika Srpska and the acting director of the Official Gazette were characterized as symbols of resistance in the takeover of that property and BiH’s accession to NATO.
“The President of Republika Srpska should now be removed from the political scene because behind the intended conviction lies a ban on political activity. This is not a fight for Milorad Dodik but for Republika Srpska,” Petronijević emphasized.
Since, as he pointed out, Christian Schmidt has declared himself the High Representative in BiH, he does not have the authority to enact laws but only to propose, lobby, and exert pressure to pass certain legislation.
“Until the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH passes the law, that law is not adopted,” Petronijević said.
He stressed that Schmidt self-proclaimed himself the supreme ruler, merging all three authorities – executive, legislative, and judicial – and enacts, executes, and judges laws.
“This is a flagrant violation of international law and basic legal principles existing in the world and legal institutes,” Petronijević underscored.
Based on these Schmidt laws, Petronijević specified that the proceedings against Dodik, as President of Republika Srpska and the acting director of the Official Gazette, are conducted – not related to criminal law but to the policy of nullifying Republika Srpska and creating a unitary state of Bosnia.
“This is a strategy that leads to a flagrant violation of international law and legal sources on which BiH, as an internationally recognized independent state, relies – the Dayton Agreement and the Constitution,” he noted.
Petronijević reminded that Christian Schmidt was not elected as High Representative through the procedure, confirmed by two permanent members of the Security Council, Russia and China, which explicitly stated that he is not the High Representative of BiH.
“The Security Council did not convene on that issue, there is no unified stance, and no resolution was ever passed to appoint Schmidt as the High Representative. Disregarding this fact, he came, presented himself as the High Representative, supported in that by a part of the West, the US, UK, and Germany, representing him as the High Representative. He draws his authority from that, which he wouldn’t otherwise have,” Petronijević concluded.
Source: RTRS
