Serbian nationalist Milorad Dodik regularly provokes ethnic tensions and tries to secede Republika Srpska from the common Bosnian state. An arrest warrant has been issued for him, but no one has detained him. Why?
A video shows how well protected the president of Republika Srpska is while touring the country - as soon as he gets out of the car, men in camouflage uniforms and assault rifles immediately gather around him. Dodik is believed to have between 40 and 50 bodyguards, ARD writes. These are police officers and counter-terrorism specialists from the Republika Srpska Ministry of the Interior. There are no soldiers, as only the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a whole has an army.
Numerous accusations
Dodik has been accused of various charges, including at the international level: he seeks the secession of Republika Srpska from Bosnia and Herzegovina, incites nationalism, denies the Srebrenica genocide, admires Russian President Vladimir Putin and regularly visits him. And his government in Republika Srpska is extremely corrupt, the German public-law media outlet points out.
Because of this, Dodik is on the sanctions list of the US and the UK. They say he runs Republika Srpska like a family business. According to “Transparency International“ The vast majority of public contracts are awarded to businessmen from Dodik's family and his circle of friends.
The fear of a clash with Dodik
The state police in Bosnia and Herzegovina have so far refrained from arresting the Serbian nationalist. According to ARD, the prevailing opinion among the police leadership is that a clash with Dodik's armed guards would be too risky. There are also fears that if Bosnian Serb police officers were shot on the street, it would provoke a riot among the population.
Citizens have so far remained calm, but almost no one seems to approve of Dodik's conflicts with the Bosnian justice system. The president has many opponents, the German public-law media outlet writes. This is confirmed by a poll conducted in the central city of Republika Srpska - Banja Luka.
“I supported Dodik for 15 years, but I found out that he is just a corrupt careerist“, says a pensioner. A young man adds: “It would be best if Dodik were arrested and corruption and crime in our country were put to an end“. An elderly woman wishes that Dodik and “his gang“ be imprisoned on the former Yugoslav prison island of Goli Otok and there “they would carve stones“.
Under the threat of a long prison sentence
The longer nothing happens and Dodik remains at large, the greater the damage to the rule of law in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Arrest warrants have been issued against Dodik, as well as against the Prime Minister of Republika Srpska Radovan Višković and the Speaker of Parliament Nenad Stevandić. They face a long stay behind bars, writes ARD. The politicians are accused of violating the constitutional order in the country. But they never appeared before the prosecutor's office.
Unconstitutional laws
Dodik, Višković and Stevandić participated in the drafting of a number of unconstitutional laws in Republika Srpska, ARD explains. They provide, for example, that the state bodies of Bosnia and Herzegovina - including the police, the prosecutor's office and the courts - are not allowed to enter the territory of Republika Srpska.
In addition, Dodik called on all Serbian employees in these state institutions to transfer to Republika Srpska. “We will make sure that you keep your official ranks. "With us they will receive higher salaries," Dodik promised. But the call for secession remained unanswered, ARD notes. The general state bodies continue to operate in Republika Srpska and so far nothing has been done against them. Dodik's threat to keep any influence from the unified Bosnian state away from Republika Srpska remained without consequences.
The first verdict is a fact from February
The first case against Dodik has already been held, the German public legal media reported. At the end of February, he was sentenced to one year in prison and a six-year ban on holding office in the first instance, because he imposed illegal legal acts in Republika Srpska by decree. According to these acts, the decisions of the Constitutional Court and the High Representative of the international community for Bosnia and Herzegovina are not valid in Republika Srpska. Dodik, however, refuses to accept the verdict.
This week he again attracted attention with an action that seems to show that he continues to ignore Bosnian justice. According to Bosnian media, despite the arrest warrant, Dodik boarded a private plane and flew first to Belgrade and then to Israel - to participate in a conference against anti-Semitism.
The prosecutor's office in Bosnia and Herzegovina wants to issue an international arrest warrant. But it cannot expect cooperation from either the Israeli or Serbian services, ARD notes.