By Rasim Belko
“S public official in an institution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republika Srpska, Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina, or in a canton, city or municipality or local community or any body of local administration and self-government, or a responsible person who does not apply, implement, execute or otherwise respect the decision of the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, or who prevents or otherwise obstructs the application, implementation or execution of such a decision, shall be punished with imprisonment from six months to five years.” This is an amendment to the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina that the High Representative Christian Schmidt adopted on July 1st of this year.
Therefore, disrespecting or failing to implement the decisions of the High Representative is a criminal offense, just as Schmidt introduced the criminal offense of disrespecting or failing to implement the decisions of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina with the same decision.
Hence, it is legally unclear, not to say suspicious, why the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina decided to indict Milorad Dodik, for whom these amendments were made, for the first offense, but not for the second.
It is clear that Dodik violated the law regarding the decisions of the High Representative, but the same applies to the Constitutional Court of BiH, whose actions he nullified in the territory of the RS entity. Therefore, the second point of the indictment must have been the violation of the amended Article 239 of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Why doesn't Milanko Kajganić, Dodik's confidant at the head of the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, know this? It is obvious that the Prosecutor's Office of BiH reluctantly and unwillingly wrote the indictment, so it was refined like some poor bride. However, it was confirmed in the end, but it will end in a fiasco.
And therefore, there is no basis for how the Prosecutor's Office can seek custody or dismissal of Dodik based on the indictment, given that it was filed for a specific criminal offense, which relates to Dodik's signing of the decree on the entry into force of the law that Schmidt annulled.
The new law that the National Assembly of Republika Srpska (NSRS) is passing is a new legal act, and if adopted as such, it will clearly be sent to Dodik for signing. Therefore, for Dodik to commit a continuous criminal offense, Schmidt will have to suspend the new law as well. And so on, indefinitely.
Because, we remind you, when the NSRS passed the law on property that Schmidt suspended, Nenad Stevandić, the president of that parliament, announced that they would pass a law that would only partially change it, indefinitely. And Schmidt will get tired one day, and Dodik will not be in a continuous criminal offense.
Just as Dodik will not go to prison because of the indictment of the Prosecutor's Office of BiH, because that too will end in a fiasco. Milorad Dodik is the president of the RS entity, and his constitutional obligation is to sign the laws that the NSRS passes. And that will be one of the foundations of Dodik's defense, along with proving the legality of Christian Schmidt, which, by all accounts, can direct the entire story in Bosnia and Herzegovina towards anarchy.
How and if this is possible, read in Patria's analysis
The Prosecutor's Office of BiH made a mistake when filing the indictment because it did not include criminal offenses that would have made it much harder for Milorad Dodik to defend himself. He would not be able to dispute the legality of the Constitutional Court of BiH, as he himself partially blocks it through the NSRS. Also, that Constitutional Court is much more competent to stop unconstitutional actions. Dodik obstructed the work of the Constitutional Court of BiH in the territory of the smaller entity, thereby committing the criminal offense of destroying the constitutional and legal order.
On the other hand, the Prosecutor's Office should have also addressed the undermining of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the indictment, i.e., Dodik's dismantling of BiH's government institutions and preventing them from doing their job. All these are offenses that should have been included in the indictment but were not. Therefore, it is impossible and far-fetched to expect the Prosecutor's Office to seek custody for Dodik, even if Schmidt suspends the law and he signs the decree on this law as well.
And Schmidt made a mistake much earlier.
He should have dismissed Milorad Dodik long ago. Because, if he had the support of the US, Great Britain, and a significant part of the EU to suspend the BiH Federation Constitution, he should have used that support to remove a political phenomenon that has been causing crises for almost two decades, undermining Dayton, the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and peace in the Western Balkans. He did not do so, therefore it is more likely that Dodik will expel Schmidt from the country than that the Prosecutor's Office and SIPA will imprison Dodik.
Who would imprison him - Kajganić and Darko Ćulum, it's more likely Putin will become an American Olympian than that will happen!
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