Vitomir Popović, a professor at the Faculty of Law in Banja Luka, stated that the trial against the President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, is a political process that fails to respect the standards of the right to a fair trial.
“You do not have this right if someone, every five days, tries to force you to appear in court regardless of your health condition or any other circumstance, based on a law that is, in fact, non-existent,” said Popović.
He added that the Court and Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, unfortunately, allowed themselves to become entangled in this political process, which creates legal uncertainty.
“You have Atif Dudaković, the former commander of the Fifth Corps of the so-called Army of BiH, and numerous other war criminals who move freely without facing trials or urgency, yet suddenly Dodik has become the number one problem,” said Popović.
He emphasized that the goal is to target the President of Republika Srpska by certain embassies, such as those of the U.S., the U.K., Germany, and France, which are trying to impose their political agendas in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“You have an EU representative focused on whether certain standards for EU accession have been met, but on the other hand, you have the so-called High Representative, who was imposed and is not even a legitimate High Representative since he was not confirmed by the UN Security Council or approved by the world’s major powers. Then you have the U.S. Ambassador, Michael Murphy, who is extremely vindictive,” noted Popović.
He added that such actions will backfire on them and cannot yield results.
According to Popović, the European Convention on Human Rights states that no one can be convicted for an act that was not prescribed as a criminal offense under the law, yet in this case, Dodik acted in accordance with his constitutional powers and obligations when he signed the decree, while Christian Schmidt imposed the law only the following day.
Popović emphasized that Schmidt does not understand that High Representatives cannot impose laws.
“This is not provided for by the Bonn powers or any other authority. Such actions must be stipulated in the Dayton Agreement because it clearly defines the division of power into judicial, executive, and legislative branches. If he tried this in Germany, where he comes from, he would be declared incompetent and likely stripped of his professional capacity,” Popović stated.
He added that Muslims in Bosnia and Herzegovina are solely focused on targeting Dodik and Republika Srpska.
“But that will not happen. Republika Srpska is more likely to move toward independence, as circumstances will change, than to allow such processes and abuses of the judiciary,” Popović asserted.
He emphasized that everyone in Republika Srpska must remain united to prevent the undermining of the foundations of the entity and attempts to impose laws on property rights.
“We must persist with the decisions and laws adopted by the National Assembly of Republika Srpska,” concluded Popović.
Source: RTRS
