Željko Budimir, Minister for Scientific and Technological Development and Higher Education of Srpska, stated that he was present in the courtroom during the last hearing at the Court of BiH involving the President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik. He emphasized that the events during the hearing—when presiding judge Sena Uzunović yelled at the parties without reason, exerted pressure on the defense, and falsified evidence—demonstrate that she cannot continue to preside over the case.
Budimir pointed out that these incidents reveal Sarajevo’s attitude toward Republika Srpska.
He also noted that the rejection of the defense’s request for the recusal of Judge Uzunović, made by President Dodik’s legal team and the acting director of the “Official Gazette of Srpska,” Miloš Lukić, was expected.
- “I didn’t expect the court panel to do anything different; they were always going to leave this judge in place, as she has been tasked with formalizing the process and convicting the President of Srpska,” Budimir remarked.
He added that nothing else could have been expected since it is impossible to fight with legal means in an unjust process.
Budimir further claimed that President Dodik is being judged at the Court of BiH by a team aligned with Bosniak interests, whose goal is to merely formalize the trial and convict the president, with the ultimate aim being to ban his political activities.
The Criminal Panel of the Court of BiH did not accept the defense’s request for the recusal of Judge Sena Uzunović.
The defense sought Judge Uzunović’s recusal on Wednesday, October 9, because she did not allow clarification on whether the document regarding the submission of evidence from the BiH Prosecutor’s Office had been delivered to the defense. The case against President Milorad Dodik and acting director of the “Official Gazette of Srpska,” Miloš Lukić, involves charges from the Prosecutor’s Office regarding the “non-implementation of decisions by Christian Schmidt.”
Source: RTRS
