Today’s hearing for the President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, and the acting director of the Official Gazette, Miloš Lukić, was interrupted after Dodik’s defense requested the recusal of presiding judge Sena Uzunović.
The hearing was marked by a heated exchange between Uzunović and attorney Goran Bubić, during which the president was threatened with being held in judicial custody.
The defense warned that the aggressive, at times hysterical behavior of Judge Sena Uzunović showed she was under pressure from someone.
President Dodik stated that he had information that outgoing U.S. Ambassador Michael Murphy was pushing for a swift conclusion of the court proceedings.
- “It’s my right to shout,” a visibly frustrated Sena Uzunović declared in the courtroom, even though this right is not granted by the Criminal Code or any other law. Her raised voice was in response to attorney Goran Bubić’s calm attempt to explain that the defense had not been informed about the deadline for responding to the prosecution’s evidence, possibly due to a clerical error.
- “The nervousness was evident in one technical detail; I had not received the submission, and I provided proof of that, which led to an inappropriate reaction, attacks on the defense, and threats that forced us to file a recusal request,” said Bubić.
- “Today, we witnessed a serious scandal. An attempt was made to pass off a document as evidence that Bubić was wrong, but it was a clear forgery. The judge is under tremendous pressure, and we all agree on that,” stressed Goran Petronijević, a legal advisor to the defense of the President of Republika Srpska.
Sena Uzunović first threatened Bubić with a warning, then with a fine, essentially not allowing him to speak. When Milorad Dodik asked her to stop shouting, she cut him off and continued in an aggressive tone.
- “Do not argue with the Court; if you continue, I will order your temporary removal from the courtroom. And if I do so, you will not be able to leave the court premises until you are called back,” stated Uzunović.
“At one point, the judge threatened to hold me in custody, to which I responded, ‘Go ahead, write the order.’ I would actually like that to happen. Naturally, she backed down. We have that villain Murphy, who has obviously been pressuring the Court, and we have the evidence. I have the right, according to all civilized norms, to defend myself, and that defense is being obstructed by the behavior of these judges. It is also worth noting that all the judges in this process are Muslim. Today, we have a woman who judged Serbs in Konjic, as well as Muslims who killed Serbs,” emphasized Milorad Dodik, President of Republika Srpska. - “The judge almost had the president escorted out today. She accused my colleagues of lying and threatened them with fines. Nothing from our side occurred to escalate the situation to such a dramatic level,” stressed Anto Nobilo, a legal advisor to the defense of the President of Republika Srpska.
In the upcoming hearings, Annex 10 will finally be presented, including the English version from the UN website, which is unsigned. The defense claims that Annex 10 does not contain the authority for Christian Schmidt to enact or amend laws. Sena Uzunović accepted the prosecution’s rebuttal evidence, including letters from the Prosecution to the OHR and the OHR’s responses, which reveal a commanding tone from OHR officials toward the judges in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- “In those documents, it is requested that judges perform the work of prosecutors, essentially asking prosecutors not to apply the law and not to submit original or certified copies of documents but rather to have judges verify the authenticity of documents from websites,” explained Miljkan Pucar, attorney for Miloš Lukić.
The court accepted as prosecution evidence statements President Dodik had made to the media, primarily to RTRS.
One such statement was made during the commemoration of the 82nd anniversary of the Battle of Kozara. By doing so, according to the Prosecution, Miloš Lukić unknowingly aligned himself with those who had devastated the Serb people of that region during World War II, drawing a parallel with the fact that today’s Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina is located on the site of what was once a Serb execution ground in Sarajevo.
- “Many expect Viktor Bubanj to remain the Viktor Bubanj he was to Serbs 20 years ago. I’ll return to the theory of state and law, which says that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. But it seems there are forces that want to claim that a Serb is guilty until proven dead,” emphasized Lukić.
At the start of the hearing, Sena Uzunović denied the defense’s request to present the biography of Christian Schmidt as material evidence, thereby preventing the disclosure that Schmidt is not a UN diplomat and cannot serve as the High Representative.
The request for the recusal of Judge Sena Uzunović, filed by Milorad Dodik’s defense, will be decided by the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina before the next hearing, scheduled for October 16, when the material evidence for the second defendant, Miloš Lukić, will be presented.
Source: RTRS
