A verdict that is only valid if enforced: Why it is more important for BiH to enforce the verdict against Dodik, not what Hungary and Serbia say

By: A. Čorbo-Zećo

After the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina confirmed the first-instance verdict against Milorad Dodik, finding him guilty of disrespecting the High Representative's decisions, reactions from neighboring countries and the region were not absent. Hungary and Serbia, as expected, do not recognize this verdict, but what does that actually mean? And more importantly, what does it not mean?

In a legal sense, nothing.

A verdict that is final in BiH has its full legal effect within the country, regardless of whether a third country recognizes it or not. Justice in BiH must not and cannot depend on whether Viktor Orbán or Aleksandar Vučić recognize it.

However, law is not just on paper. The problem arises when the institutions of their own country, Bosnia and Herzegovina, show neither the will nor the strength to enforce the verdict.

Experience teaches us that the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially when it comes to enforcing decisions against Milorad Dodik, have been ineffective. Let us recall the earlier disregard for orders and attempts to suppress the undermining of the constitutional order; everything remained without concrete punishment.

Dodik continued then, and will continue now by adopting laws in the National Assembly of RS that derogate from the state's constitutional competencies, creating legal chaos and a parallel system.

If the BiH institutions are not ready to apply the verdict even now, if the Prosecutor's Office, SIPA, and the judiciary remain silent, Dodik will interpret it as another permission to continue his anti-Dayton and anti-constitutional policy.

In that case, the question is no longer whether Hungary will recognize the verdict, but whether Bosnia and Herzegovina will recognize itself.

Now we have a verdict. Legal, final, binding. But a verdict is only valid if the system stands behind it. If judicial courage, political will, and institutional consistency stand behind it. And that is what is traditionally lacking in BiH when "Dodik" appears by name.

So let's forget Hungary and Serbia. Their support for Dodik is not a surprise; it is consistency in the wrong direction. The focus must be on us – on SIPA, the Court of BiH, the Prosecutor's Office, the Ministry of Justice, the Central Election Commission. If we turn a blind eye again, if we calculate once more, Dodik will not be the problem. We will be the problem.

It is time to see who truly holds the key to this country – law or fear.