BLAGOJEVICH: I EXPECT TRUMP TO REACT TO SRPSKA’S RIGHTS VIOLATION

BANJA LUKA, JUNE 23 /SRNA/ – Former Governor of the U.S. state of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, stated in Banja Luka that he will inform the U.S. President about what is happening in Republika Srpska, where its rights are being threatened by an unelected bureaucrat, and that he expects Donald Trump, as a determined man, to take action.

Blagojevich argued that as long as BiH has an unelected bureaucrat like Christian Schmidt who holds the power to persecute people, the situation is the opposite of what democracy should be. “As an American of Serb origin who has a good relationship with the U.S. President, I’ll be able to speak with him about what’s happening here. Given that Trump is a bold man, he will surely do something, because democratic values are being undermined here,” Blagojevich said at a press conference after meeting with Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik. He emphasized that BiH is in a colonial-like situation. “Schmidt treats Republika Srpska as a colony. He granted himself certain powers, and opposing him is treated as a criminal offense. Most people in Republika Srpska know what’s going on. Now it’s even a criminal offense to mark the Day of the Republic, which falls on Saint Stephen’s Day,” he said. Blagojevich noted that in the 1990s he was a young politician and a member of U.S. President Bill Clinton’s Democratic Party, at the time when the United States decided to intervene in BiH, leading to the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement. He said that following the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement, there was a gradual stripping of the rights that had been granted to the Serbs, including through the so-called Bonn Powers.