DODIK: I BELIEVE UN SECURITY COUNCIL WILL NOT EXTEND MANDATE OF CRIMINAL COURT JUDGES

BANJA LUKA, JUNE 30 /SRNA/ - SNSD President Milorad Dodik said he believes the UN Security Council will not extend the mandate of the judges of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in The Hague, which expires today.

"I do not believe the Security Council will support its continued existence, and I believe this will open a debate on whether the Hague Tribunal was legally established," Dodik told reporters in Banja Luka. He said there was an ongoing debate over whether everything the court in The Hague had done was legally founded. According to him, the institution had largely failed to achieve its purpose. "It was politically motivated and was not impartial. For a long time, those verdicts were regarded as defining the historical narrative, but only time will tell how they will be viewed in the future," Dodik said. Dodik said the question arises as to how a court that, in the view of Republika Srpska officials, was improperly established and lacked a sufficient legal basis could have handed down judgments.