Strasbourg Court Rejects Milorad Dodik: His Rights Not Violated, BiH Court Verdict Stands!

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has rejected the application of Milorad Dodik, the former President of Republika Srpska, who complained that his human rights were violated during the proceedings before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which resulted in a conviction, Istraga.ba has learned. 

Dodik's defense and the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina have already been notified of this ECtHR decision, which, as we have learned, was made by a single judge. The letter from the judge in Strasbourg stated that Dodik's request was manifestly ill-founded and that there is no reason whatsoever for it to be considered on the merits.

This means that Milorad Dodik has exhausted all legal mechanisms he could use to challenge the verdict of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, by which, last year, he was finally sentenced to one year in prison and a six-year ban from holding the office of President of RS and all other public positions for the criminal offense of – failing to comply with the decisions of the High Representative.

Earlier, in April this year, the European Court of Human Rights rejected the request of Milorad Dodik's legal team for the introduction of an interim measure. This measure sought to halt the implementation of court decisions in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

We recall that Milorad Dodik was found guilty of knowingly, from July 1 to July 9, 2023, in Banja Luka, taking actions aimed at continuing the legislative process, while not applying and not implementing the decisions of the High Representative, despite knowing that High Representative Christian Schmidt had issued a decision preventing the entry into force of the Law on the Non-Application of Decisions of the Constitutional Court of BiH from July 1 of the same year, as well as a decision preventing the entry into force of the Law on Amendments to the Law on the Publication of Laws and Other Regulations of the RS.

The verdict was rendered due to Dodik's signing of decrees on laws adopted by the National Assembly of Republika Srpska in 2023, which stipulated that decisions of the High Representative in BiH would not be published in the Official Gazette of the RS, nor would they be implemented in that entity. Let us recall that High Representative Christian Schmidt immediately annulled those laws after their adoption and criminalized non-compliance with OHR decisions. Nevertheless, Dodik ignored that decision and signed the decree promulgating the laws, thereby violating the amended Criminal Code of BiH, in the part relating to non-compliance with the decisions of the High Representative.

Because of this, the Prosecutor's Office of BiH filed an indictment against Milorad Dodik, as well as against the director of the Official Gazette of the RS, Miloš Lukić. Dodik was finally convicted, while Lukić was acquitted. After that, Milorad Dodik had to step down from the position of President of the RS.

In the meantime, he filed an appeal with the Constitutional Court of BiH, but it was declared unfounded. After that, Dodik turned to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, which first rejected the proposal for a precautionary measure, and ultimately, the case before Strasbourg was concluded with a letter from a single judge who informed the institutions of BiH that there was no basis for the appeal.