As the court proceedings against the President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, and the acting director of the Official Gazette, Miloš Lukić, near conclusion, the stance that representatives of Srpska have advocated from the beginning is increasingly being confirmed as undeniable.
Political figures from Sarajevo are gradually acknowledging that the case is politically orchestrated. President Dodik has emphasized that Republika Srpska will respond politically if the Court’s decision is politically driven. He reminds Bosniak leaders that each of their decisions has made Bosnia and Herzegovina less of a state and more of a colony.
“In the end, you’ve admitted that you’re not prosecuting me for defying Bosnia and Herzegovina, but for defying a colonial administrator,” Dodik asserts.
President Dodik points out that those working against Republika Srpska are also working against Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to him, politicians from Sarajevo and Western officials involved in orchestrating and enforcing the politically charged case are aiming for a single political outcome: his removal from the political scene to pave the way for obtaining Republika Srpska’s assets and accelerating the push for a unitarist Bosnia and Herzegovina, in line with the vision of the Bosniak-majority population. Dodik suggests that the pathological animosity from Bosniak politicians toward him has evolved into hatred toward the very state they profess to support.
“They know they want to eliminate this group of people, to push us away from decision-making. Once they do, these comfort-seekers will easily hand over assets to Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is a test of the Serbs’ resilience. This battle is being fought on my shoulders, Milorad Dodik’s, and any successor without fear of what they say awaits me as my fate will be met with a similar destiny. If not, we’ll wake up in a Muslim-dominated Bosnia, with Sarajevo as its center,” Dodik explains.
Statements by Narod i Pravda leader Elmedin Konaković and SDA leader Bakir Izetbegović highlight the absurdity and true intentions behind the case. They have publicly admitted that the case is politically motivated and driven by the international community. According to Ljubiša Ćosić, President of the Union of Municipalities and Cities of Srpska, if Bosnia and Herzegovina were a true rule-of-law state, investigations would already be underway against Konaković and Izetbegović for their statements.
“This is just one of a series of pressures intended to demonstrate that it’s a coordinated effort to try to remove President Dodik from the political scene in Srpska and Bosnia and Herzegovina,” says Ćosić.
Attorney Miodrag Stojanović asserts that statements from key Bosniak politicians clearly indicate rising tensions in the Federation. For Stojanović, there is no doubt that the case against Dodik and Lukić is politically motivated.
“This is indeed a political trial. It is a trial of the head of Republika Srpska, and therefore a trial of Srpska itself. Knowing that this trial results from a refusal to accept decisions from the Office of the High Representative, there’s no doubt that this is a political trial,” Stojanović states.
Following objections from the defense, the Court of BiH is expected to address the statements made by Konaković and Izetbegović. However, Stojanović believes that it is unlikely to yield any results, though the BiH Prosecutor’s Office should nonetheless take action.
Source: RTRS
