Milorad Dodik, the President of Republika Srpska (RS), announced today that RS will establish its own judiciary and prosecutor’s office, declaring that the first individual to be prosecuted will be the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Christian Schmidt.

“We will pursue him like a beast,” Dodik remarked during his speech to the deputies in the RS Parliament, which is currently discussing the proposed new entity Constitution and the Law on the Protection of State Order.

As the leader of the ruling Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), Dodik pointed out that the adoption of the new RS Constitution requires a two-thirds majority, which the ruling coalition currently lacks, hence needing the backing of opposition MPs.

Dodik criticized former High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch for implementing numerous amendments to the RS Constitution, arguing that the current constitutional framework “does not reflect the will of the people but rather that of a foreign entity.”

He noted that these enforced decisions received validation from the RS Parliamentary Assembly but contended that they are not compliant with the Dayton Agreement.

According to him, the members of the BiH parliament “do not represent Republika Srpska” and that the RS has yet to establish a stance on these imposed regulations.

He added that the situation for RS is “better than before” as it has “more allies around the globe.”

“They have burdened us with numerous impositions; only the state has the authority to implement its decisions, and BiH cannot do so without our involvement,” Dodik asserted.

He also highlighted that RS deliberately refrained from appointing two Serbian judges to the Constitutional Court of BiH to challenge the court’s functions and decisions.

The proposed new RS Constitution envisages the right to self-determination for this entity of BiH, abolishing the Council of Peoples of RS and the RS Vice Presidents.

The concept of BiH citizenship would be eliminated, recognizing only entity citizenship instead.

The restructuring of the RS Army and the creation of the RS High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council, tasked with appointing judges and prosecutors within the entity, are also part of this proposal.

Under the new Constitution, the President of the RS would appoint BiH ambassadors of Serbian nationality rather than the Serb member of the BiH Presidency, with laws at the state level requiring confirmation from the RS National Assembly.

The capital of RS is designated to be Banja Luka, replacing Sarajevo as stated in the existing Constitution, while Pale or East Sarajevo will be referred to as the “capital.”

News