On Saturday, August 2nd, Serbia rejected a Bosnian appeals court ruling upholding a prison sentence for Milorad Dodik, the leader of Bosnia’s ethnic Serb entity, the Republika Srpska.
In February, a court in the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, sentenced Dodik to one year behind bars for defying rulings by the international envoy overseeing Bosnia’s 1995 peace accords. It also banned Dodik, who has not so far been arrested, from holding office for six years.
On Friday, Bosnia’s appeals court said it had upheld the lower court ruling and no further appeal was allowed.
Speaking after an emergency meeting of Serbia’s National Security Council, President Aleksandar Vučić said the rulings were “a destabilising factor.” “The security situation in the region has been seriously undermined,” he alleged.
Following the ruling, Dodik thanked Vučić and the security council. “Serbia has always been committed to Republika Srpska and has never done anything against Bosnia and Herzegovina,” he said.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter also weighed in on the issue on August 1st on X, stating that Dodik is the victim of a “political witch-hunt,” and nailing down that “Milorad Dodik is a friend of Hungary, and Hungary stands by its friends.”
