Will the RS Prosecutor's Office Indict Dodik for Obstruction of Investigation?

Written by: A. Čorbo-Zećo

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The Prosecutor's Office of the Republika Srpska has strongly rebuked BiH Presidency member Milorad Dodik for his statements made at a press conference. It is rare for an institution from the BiH entity of Republika Srpska to oppose Dodik, whose SNSD governs the RS sovereignly, so this reaction from the RS Prosecutor's Office should be viewed positively.
However, serious accusations from this entity's Prosecutor's Office cannot and must not end with press releases. 

„The conclusion is imposed that the dissemination of such information was done with the intention to divert the investigation in the wrong direction, to cover up the failures of certain police officers made during the implementation of security measures for Chief Radenko Bašić, and to blame the prosecutor's offices for the failures,” stated the Prosecutor's Office of the Republika Srpska. 
Simply put, Dodik is obstructing the investigation, which is a criminal offense.

Article 369 of the Criminal Code of the Republika Srpska specifies that 'whoever, by use of force, threat of force, or in another way, obstructs or prevents a judge, prosecutor, or deputy prosecutor from performing their judicial or prosecutorial duties, shall be punished by imprisonment from six months to five years and a fine.'

However, for now, there are no official actions from the RS Prosecutor's Office aimed at satisfying this article of the law, and based on what they have asserted that Dodik is obstructing the investigation, he should have at least been questioned by now.

We remind you that the RS Prosecutor's Office stated that "the allegations made by the member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina are aimed at disparaging the work of prosecutor's offices, and even targeting certain prosecutors by certain state structures, with the goal of bringing under control the prosecutor's offices and certain parts of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republika Srpska that are not under political influence."

"The information referred to by the member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is not accurate, obviously comes from structures within the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republika Srpska that do not participate in the investigation and evidence collection, but rather disseminate it with the intention of covering up their own failures and illegal communications and actions with members of organized criminal groups, thereby attempting to criminalize prosecutors and honorable police officers who are intensively working on detecting and prosecuting the perpetrators of this serious criminal offense that has shocked the entire public of BiH and the region," they state.

They emphasize that the prosecutor's offices will remain committed exclusively to the Constitution and laws, independent of politics and the executive branch, and will not fall under the influence of any criminal or political structures that want to put the prosecutor's offices in the service of protecting certain political or criminal individuals.

If it is indeed as they claim that they are independent, the public expects at least the questioning of Milorad Dodik, and even an indictment for obstruction of the judiciary.