Bosnia and Herzegovina is in the midst of a deep political crisis due to the unlawful and reckless actions of a retired German bureaucrat named Christian Schmidt, who is illegally claiming dictatorial powers over BiH, according to the 33rd Report of Republika Srpska to the United Nations Security Council.
“The culmination of his arbitrary actions is the attempt to overthrow and arrest the democratically elected president of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, based on a so-called criminal ‘law’ that he unilaterally enacted by his own decision. Schmidt’s actions are dangerous, provocative, destabilizing, and entirely unnecessary,” the Report emphasizes.
The document describes this as a shocking attack on democracy in BiH and a cynical rejection of the rule of law.
It adds that Schmidt’s unlawful usurpation of power represents a blatant violation of the principles contained in the UN Charter and that any UN member state that upholds democracy and the rule of law should be appalled by his actions.
“Allowing him to continue his disastrous rule in BiH would be an unprecedented scandal,” the second part of the Report, adopted by the Government of Republika Srpska, states.
It is recalled that the UN Security Council never approved Schmidt’s appointment as high representative, which is a necessary requirement under the Dayton Agreement. It is deemed astonishing that he claims, as high representative, to have the authority to unilaterally impose laws without the consent of the signatory parties to Annex 10 or the oversight of any other body within or outside of BiH.
“Schmidt was imposed on BiH by a small, informal, and self-proclaimed group of countries known as the Steering Board of the so-called Peace Implementation Council, which has no legal authority. But even if Schmidt were a legitimate high representative, absolutely nothing in the Dayton Agreement or any other legal source grants him the authority to impose laws or issue binding decisions,” the Report notes.
It further states that Schmidt’s usurpation of legislative authority constitutes a denial of BiH’s sovereignty as a UN member, of its democratic constitutional order, and of the basic principles of the rule of law.
Republika Srpska warns that Schmidt has deliberately and repeatedly undermined the BiH Constitution by issuing provocative decrees, which he proclaims as “laws” binding on the citizens of BiH.
His most extreme and reckless act of repression, the Report continues, is the false “law” he imposed in July 2023, which prescribes prison sentences for officials who refuse to recognize his unlawful decisions as if they had been adopted by democratically elected legislative bodies in BiH.
The clear target of that decree, it adds, was the president of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, who, along with the National Assembly and other leaders of Srpska, persistently refuses to acknowledge Schmidt’s alleged right to rule BiH as an absolute despot.
The Report recalls that, as a natural response to Schmidt’s illegal and unconstitutional attempts to govern BiH by decree, the National Assembly of Republika Srpska adopted a law in June 2023 suspending the publication of such unlawful decisions in the Official Gazette of Republika Srpska.
“When President Dodik formally promulgated the law, as required by the Constitution of Republika Srpska, the BiH Prosecutor’s Office filed charges against him based on Schmidt’s dictatorial and unconstitutional edict. President Dodik was then subjected to a politically staged trial presided over by a judge who had served as a military judge in the Bosniak army during the war,” the Report states.
It further explains that Dodik was not charged with violating a democratically adopted criminal law, but with defying the will of a German bureaucrat, and that the trial was literally outside the bounds of the law, since it was based on the alleged violation of a fictional “law” that had never been adopted by any chamber of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH.
“Nevertheless, the Court and the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH, under pressure from Schmidt and certain foreign embassies, proceeded as if this invented criminal ‘law’ had been duly enacted in accordance with the BiH Constitution. After the conclusion of the formal proceedings, the judge found President Dodik guilty of violating Schmidt’s unlawful decree and sentenced him to one year in prison and a six-year ban from holding public office,” the Report adds.
It stresses that Schmidt’s attempt to depose Dodik through an illegal and unconstitutional decision constitutes a grave assault on the rule of law and democracy in BiH, and that his attempt to imprison Dodik and annul free and fair elections for the presidency of Republika Srpska is a flagrant violation of international law, EU standards, the Dayton Agreement, and the values that Western countries claim to uphold.
The Report emphasizes that it is clear Schmidt is trying to remove Dodik, but he will never be able to remove the people of Republika Srpska, who overwhelmingly support his defense of the Dayton Agreement and his rejection of Schmidt’s dictatorial actions.
“In fact, the attempt to forcibly remove him has only further united the citizens of Republika Srpska in resistance to Schmidt’s unlawful and destabilizing dictatorship,” the Report states.
The document notes that after the verdict against the president of Srpska, the BiH Court issued warrants for the arrest of the prime minister and the speaker of the National Assembly of Srpska—Radovan Višković and Nenad Stevandić—and even sent a request to Interpol for an international arrest warrant, which Interpol rightly rejected in accordance with its rules prohibiting politically motivated action.
“Certain Bosniak politicians even requested that the EUFOR mission assist in arresting President Dodik, but the EU, following Interpol’s logic and recognizing the political nature of the warrant, wisely rejected this request,” the Report states.
It also recalls that the BiH State Investigation and Protection Agency attempted unsuccessfully to arrest Dodik in East Sarajevo on April 23.
“Any further attempts to arrest President Dodik or other officials from Republika Srpska would be a dangerous move that would only further deepen the crisis in BiH and threaten its future,” the second part of the Report concludes.
The United Nations Security Council will hold its biannual debate on the situation in BiH on Tuesday, May 6, at 4:00 p.m. in New York, according to the official website of the Council.
Source: RTRS
