DODIK: POLITICAL PERSECUTION CONTINUES, SRPSKA HAS RIGHT TO DEFEND ITSELF

MOSCOW, MAY 28 /SRNA/ - The President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik has stated that the entire court proceeding against him is proof of political persecution and emphasized that Republika Srpska has the right to defend itself if anyone tries to establish law through injustice.

Dodik has stressed that although Republika Srpska has rejected the legitimacy of the unconstitutional Court and Prosecutor’s Office of BiH, those institutions continue to operate. “This will only lead to everything being clarified. I don’t have expectations, we can speculate, but if the Court upholds the previous decision, it will plunge us into a dramatic political situation. We will then go to the Srpska institutions and make decisions that they will not like,” Dodik stated. He has added that if anyone pushes the leadership of Republika Srpska into a corner and tries to establish legal authority on an unlawful basis, Srpska has the right to defend itself. “We are obligated to defend ourselves,” Dodik emphasized. He pointed to several key facts: that the court in question is the same one as in the first-instance proceeding, that Republika Srpska has rejected the existence of the BiH Court and Prosecutor’s Office, that the entire process is proof of political persecution, and that the former U.S. ambassador also had influence. “They praise their judicial appointment system, but it’s impossible not to notice that from beginning to end, the case is followed by the selection of Bosniak judges. Despite the fact that Republika Srpska has rejected the activities of the Court and Prosecutor’s Office, they continue with them,” Dodik told RTRS. The unconstitutional Court of BiH previously announced that a session of the Appellate Panel in the case concerning the president of Republika Srpska is scheduled for June 12. The Appellate Panel, which will deliver the second-instance judgment against the president of Republika Srpska, consists of judges Hilmo Vučinić, Staniša Gluhajić, and Amela Huskić. On February 26, the unconstitutional Court of BiH sentenced Dodik to one year in prison and issued a measure banning him from holding public office for six years from the date the judgment becomes final.