BELGRADE, August 18. /TASS/. The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has rejected an appeal from the defense counsel of the President of Republika Srpska (entity BiH) Milorad Dodik asking that the revocation of his mandate be overturned.
"The Council of the Appeals Chamber of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina dismissed as unfounded the appeal of Milorad Dodik, President of Republika Srpska, legally represented by [his] confidant Goran Bubic, filed against the decision of the Central Election Commission of BiH, which established the termination of the powers of the head of Republika Srpska," the court said in a press release.
Under the constitution proposed in the General Framework Agreement on Peace (the Dayton Agreement), BiH consists of two entities: the Muslim-Croatian Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (about 51% of the territory), Republika Srpska (about 49%), and the Br·ko district. Three main peoples are proportionally represented in the public administration system: Bosniaks (Slavs converted to Islam), Serbs (Orthodox) and Croats (Catholics). The country, in fact, is governed through a high representative of the international community (the post was created in accordance with the Dayton Agreement), who is appointed by the steering committee of the Peace Implementation Council after approval by the UN Security Council. However, in May 2021, the ambassadors of the committee countries appointed German representative Christian Schmidt as the new high representative in BiH without the approval procedure at the UN Security Council. Republika Srpska, Russia and China do not recognize his legitimacy.
On August 6, the CEC of BiH decided to terminate Dodik's powers in connection with his sentence and to hold early elections in Republika Srpska. Prior to that, the Appeals Chamber of the Court in Bosnia and Herzegovina upheld the verdict of the first instance against the head of the entity in the form of a year in prison and a six-year ban on political activity for ignoring Schmidt's decisions. Later, the prison sentence was replaced with a fine.
Earlier on Monday, Dodik said that a referendum on confidence in the political course of the Republika Srpska leadership would be held at the end of September. According to him, during the voting, the residents of the entity will be asked if they support Schmidt making key decisions in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The head of Republika Srpska also expressed his readiness to hold a vote on the independence of the entity in case of attempts to further pressure the Bosnian Serbs.