Court of BiH for Patria: Nobilo does not have the status of Milorad Dodik's lawyer, the Court will not send him summons for hearings

(Patria) - Lawyer Anto Nobilo does not have the status of lawyer/defender of the accused Milorad Dodik, but rather a legal advisor in the defense team, the Court of BiH told Patria in response to an inquiry whether Nobilo had been granted permission for special proceedings. Nobilo is a lawyer from Croatia and would require special permission for such proceedings.

However, the Court of BiH states that the chosen defender of Milorad Dodik is lawyer Goran Bubić.

"By letter dated 01.12.2023, the Court informed the defense of Milorad Dodik that the legal advisor in the defense team of the accused Milorad Dodik, Anto Nobilo, will not be summoned by the Court and that the proceedings will be conducted with or without his presence at the main hearing, which facts were also pointed out by judge Mirsad Strika at the hearing held on 06.12.2023. Therefore, the Court did not even decide on granting special representation permission to Anto Nobilo, within the meaning of the provisions of the Law on the Court of BiH, because he does not have the status of lawyer/defender of the accused Milorad Dodik," stated the Court of BiH.

Although he did not address the court at yesterday's hearing, Nobilo sat next to Dodik's lawyer Bubić, and upon leaving the Court of BiH after Milorad Dodik's statement, he was the first to give a statement about the process itself, stating that the Court of BiH is contaminated.

"This Court is irrevocably contaminated. That large amount of information enters your subconscious, and damage has been done to this procedure, and a fair procedure cannot be conducted. The only way is to get out of Sarajevo, all those who have influenced live and reside here," said Nobilo, mentioning in his statement the High Representative Christian Schmidt, ambassadors, and the media, and that they had contaminated the process with their statements and publications.

Yesterday's hearing was ultimately not held because the defense of Milorad Dodik has the right to appeal the decision to reject the request for the court proceedings to be held in Banja Luka. We remind you that Dodik and the acting director of the Official Gazette of Republika Srpska, Miloš Lukić, are accused of failing to comply with the decisions of the High Representative in BiH.

The next hearing should be held on December 20th.