In Sarajevo, the trial of Milorad Dodik, the Bosnian Serb separatist leader, has officially begun after multiple delays due to Dodik’s protests against biased judges and other procedural complaints. Dodik’s legal team has been consistently demanding delays for various matters, and his lawyer Goran Bubic requested the newly-appointed judge, Sena Uzunovic, to be exempted for alleged bias.
Judge Uzunovic insisted that prosecutors must read out the indictment despite Dodik’s protest. Dodik, who serves as the president of Bosnia’s autonomous Serb Republic, was indicted in August by state prosecutors for signing laws that suspended rulings by the constitutional court and by international peace envoy Christian Schmidt, a former German minister.
The trial is being held at Bosnia’s state court in Sarajevo and reflects the political divisions in the country. Dodik has consistently worked to undermine state institutions and the office of the envoy, who has the power to impose laws and remove officials obstructing the peace in Bosnia. He has long sought to separate his region from Bosnia, intensifying his efforts over the past two years.
Under the rules aimed at preventing the country from sliding back into war, any official in Bosnia who fails to implement a decision of the international envoy can be jailed for up to five years. However, the Serbs do not recognize Schmidt as the High Representative, claiming he was not endorsed by the United Nations Security Council.
The state court previously dismissed Bubic’s requests for eight judges to be exempted from the case due to alleged political biases against Dodik. During Monday’s proceedings, Judge Uzunovic made it clear that Dodik’s lawyer’s request for her exemption did not automatically mean that the reading of the indictment should be postponed again.
Prosecutor Gordana Bosiljcic accused Dodik of committing a criminal act by failing to comply with the High Representative’s decisions. Dodik’s supporters, including top Serb Republic officials in the court gallery, stood up and protested, prompting the judge to order them to leave.
When asked if he understood the indictment, Dodik claimed he did not understand any part of it and called it a “distortion of facts,” alleging that it was done under political pressure by incompetent prosecutors. The trial is ongoing in Sarajevo. (Reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic, Editing by Angus MacSwan)
