EVERYONE WHO THOUGHT THAT A FINAL COURT RULING WILL MAKE BiH A UNITARY STATE WAS MISTAKEN

BANJA LUKA, NOVEMBER 1 /SRNA/ - Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik said that he was tried before the BiH Court in Sarajevo because some believed they could eliminate him through the verdict and that a unitary BiH would become a reality, emphasizing that this was an illusion and that those who believed in it were the ones who lost.

In an op-ed for Belgrade’s Politika daily, Dodik reminded that only two Germans, Adolf Hitler and Christian Schmidt, had proclaimed laws in Europe without any parliamentary procedure, and that it was he who was tried based on Schmidt’s decision. He emphasized that concern for the constitutional order was not behind any of this, but rather sheer greed - the desire to lay hands on Republika Srpska’s natural resources. We are publishing President Milorad Dodik’s op-ed titled ‘Why Was I Tried?’ in its entirety: In the past century in Europe, only two Germans have declared their decisions to be laws without any parliamentary procedure: Adolf Hitler and Christian Schmidt. This may sound harsh, but unfortunately, it is the plain truth. Imagine the irony - someone once again wanted to impose a German as an overseer to the people of Kozara, Gradina, Jasenovac, and many other sites of mass suffering, those who endured the most horrific ordeal of the Second World War. Christian Schmidt passed the decision under which I was tried - a decision that could best be described as “Christian Schmidt’s Decision About Himself.” I was tried under a law that is not a law, for an act that is not a crime. I was tried not for violating a legal norm, but for defying someone’s will. The law does not recognize arbitrariness. It was a legal and political absurdity: an illegal and illegitimate foreigner, not confirmed by the UN Security Council, granted himself the right to impose laws. And then, those who dared to oppose him were to be charged and convicted. His decisions had no basis in either law or logic. Their only goal was to break Republika Srpska and the will of its people. The key figure behind it all was U.S. Ambassador Michael Murphy, appointed by the Biden administration. He was not a diplomat; he was a colonial administrator. Violating all diplomatic norms and conventions, he commanded Schmidt, the parties of the Sarajevo “Troika,” the media, and the NGO sector. He was the extended arm of a policy that sought, in the name of “democracy,” to complete by force an impossible mission: the unitarization of BiH and the abolition of Republika Srpska. Today, as we read the correspondence that has leaked to the public, we can see how deep that network was; in the Federation of BiH, Bosniak personnel in politics, the police, and the media measured their success by whether Murphy praised them. It became clear that the struggle would be intense and relentless when they targeted the property of Republika Srpska. After all, every self-governing entity in the world - whether an American state, a German province, or an entity in BiH - exists because it has its own property. What Murphy would never allow for New York, and Schmidt for Bavaria, they expected us to accept in Banja Luka. Concern for the constitutional order was not behind any of this, but rather sheer greed - the desire to lay hands on Republika Srpska’s natural resources: our forests, rivers, minerals, and land. Imperial policies, no matter under which flag they come, always have the same goal: to control and exploit. They want to manage someone else’s resources, while behind the scenes, organizations like USAID and European bureaucrats hide behind phrases about reforms and democracy. We did not agree to that. And then began a process meant to intimidate Republika Srpska and me personally - to paralyze us and silence us. But they underestimated us. By following geopolitical developments and tirelessly building diplomatic relations, I knew that the world was changing and that I had to see things through to the end. They did not understand that our determination is a vow to those who fell in the Defensive-Patriotic War. There is no fear in it. There is no giving up. Before that vow, honor lives forever. The Bosniak political and media elite rejoiced at that time. The court seemed as if it had been taken straight out of Kafka; I was accused without guilt, convicted without evidence. They were promised that the dirty work would be completed: that by convicting me, they would eliminate me, weaken the SNSD, and find “obedient” Serbs whose capital would be Sarajevo instead of Banja Luka. That, through a judicial performance, a unitary BiH would become a reality. But it was an illusion. Those who believed in it lost. Then came a change of administration in Washington. Michael Murphy left, and Christian Schmidt was left without a commander and began to act like a caricature of himself. At the same time, the opposition from Republika Srpska ran to Sarajevo, to the residence of the British ambassador, to offer cooperation and willingness to work together if brought to power. That was their end. Because the SNSD is not just a party, the SNSD is an institution of the Serb people. Lawfully, decisively, peacefully, and democratically, we overturned their plans. Republika Srpska did not yield. They suffered a political knockout. The verdict they issued was a political declaration. With it, they confirmed what they had been trying to hide - that they wanted to abolish Republika Srpska. But, just as in every great struggle, the truth ultimately comes to light; so it can be seen today: those who issued the verdicts are now facing their own defeat. At the moment I am writing this op-ed, all individuals and companies on the OFAC sanctions list have been removed by the decision of the new U.S. administration. This is the clearest confirmation that we have triumphed diplomatically, politically, and morally.