“Dodik’s Conviction Could Unsettle BiH’s Political Landscape; We Will Appeal If Not Overturned”
Nobilo addresses Dodik’s supporters in Banja Luka following the verdict, Photo: Screenshot/Youtube
Renowned Croatian attorney Anto Nobilo, part of the legal team for Milorad Dodik, the president of the Bosnian entity of Republika Srpska, stated during the trial in Sarajevo that a guilty verdict against Dodik would undoubtedly disrupt the political landscape in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). He cautioned that “we are entering a zone of political crisis.”
“In Sarajevo, there are already evaluations suggesting that Dodik’s responses resemble a coup d’état. Meanwhile, in Republika Srpska, the perception is that the verdict preventing him from holding public office amounts to a coup d’état against Republika Srpska,” Nobilo told the newspaper Politika.
When questioned about the possibility of an appeal, he clarified that the appellate court in question is “the very court that convicted Dodik.”
“President Dodik has expressed that he will not appeal, yet my colleagues Goran Bubić, Goran Petronijević, and I will attempt to convince him to do so regardless. If he does not explicitly stop us, we are prepared to submit an appeal,” Nobilo remarked.
He also mentioned that long before the trial commenced in Sarajevo, multiple ministers, politicians, and diplomatic representatives publicly declared Dodik guilty in the media, stating, “they have condemned him both before and without a trial.”
“It’s a spectacle for the public. Dodik has faced condemnation prior. The situation is evolving into a mockery of justice. The trust of citizens in the judiciary is being eroded, and often, the courts represent the final barrier for citizens against injustice,” Nobilo claimed when asked if Dodik received a fair trial.
On February 26, Dodik was sentenced to one year in prison along with a six-year prohibition from political activities.
Dodik was found guilty by the Court of BiH.
The allegations against Dodik include signing presidential decrees that declared two unconstitutional laws of the RS, which had been previously annulled by the High Representative, as valid. These laws pertain to the non-implementation of the decisions made by the Constitutional Court of BiH and the non-implementation of decisions made by the High Representative regarding the territory of the RS.
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