If the verdict becomes final, Dodik cannot hold any public office or one financed from public funds

(Patria) - The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, on 26.2.2025, issued a first-instance verdict in the criminal case Milorad Dodik and others, by which the accused Miloš Lukić is acquitted of the charge of committing the criminal offense of non-enforcement of decisions of the High Representative from Article 203.a paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in conjunction with Article 54 of the same Code, while in relation to the accused Milorad Dodik, the Court rendered a conviction, finding him guilty of committing the criminal offense of non-enforcement of decisions of the High Representative from Article 203.a paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Court imposed a prison sentence of one (1) year on the accused Milorad Dodik, as well as a security measure prohibiting him from holding the office of President of Republika Srpska for a period of six (6) years, from the date the verdict becomes final.

In relation to the proposal of the BiH Prosecutor's Office concerning, as stated in the indictment, the determination of legal consequences of the conviction from Article 203.a paragraph 5, points a), c) and d) of the Criminal Code of BiH, the Court did not make a specific decision in the verdict, for the reason that the legal consequences of the conviction occur automatically, i.e., by force of law, after the verdict becomes final.

With the confirmed indictment, the BiH Prosecutor's Office charged the accused Milorad Dodik and Miloš Lukić with failing to apply and implement the decisions of the High Representative for BiH, as officials in the institutions of Republika Srpska.

The indictment, among other things, stated that in the period from 1.7.2023 to 9.7.2023 in Banja Luka, Milorad Dodik and Miloš Lukić, as officials in the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, aware and knowing that the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina Christian Schmidt had made a decision preventing the entry into force of the Law on Non-Application of Decisions of the Constitutional Court of BiH from July 1st of the same year, as well as the decision preventing the entry into force of the Law on Amendments to the Law on Publication of Laws and Other Regulations of RS, undertook actions aimed at continuing the legislative procedure, without applying and implementing the decisions of the High Representative.

Article 203.a paragraph 5, point c of the Criminal Code of BiH states: a ban on performing official duties in legislative, executive, administrative, or any body that is wholly or partially financed from public funds, and a ban on acquiring official duties in legislative, executive, judicial, administrative, or any body that is wholly or partially financed from public funds.