Thanks to Schmidt's decision banning budget financing of SNSD, Milorad Dodik can remain party leader

Milorad Dodik will acknowledge part of the BiH Court's verdict. The current president of Republika Srpska will, after receiving a referral from the BiH Court to serve a one-year prison sentence, request the conversion of the prison sentence into a fine. This way, he will avoid a warrant being issued if he fails to report for his sentence within the deadline set by the BiH Court, writes Istraga.

“(1) A prison sentence of up to one year imposed on a convicted person may, at their request, be commuted to a fine, payable in a lump sum within 30 days under the conditions stipulated by the Criminal Code.

(2) A convicted person whose prison sentence of up to one year has been commuted to a fine and has been paid in a lump sum within 30 days from the date the said court decision becomes final shall be issued a certificate of sentence execution by the court and the competent internal affairs authority for maintaining criminal records shall be notified.

(3) If the fine is not paid within the period referred to in paragraph (1) of this Article, the court shall issue a decision on the execution of the prison sentence. If the fine is only partially paid, the prison sentence shall be executed proportionally to the unpaid amount,” according to the BiH Law on Execution of Criminal Sanctions, Detention and Other Measures.

After receiving the referral from Judge Sena Uzunović, who presided over the first-instance proceedings, Milorad Dodik can request a postponement of the execution. If the BiH Court rejects Dodik's proposal, the convicted president of Republika Srpska will request the BiH Court to commute the prison sentence to a fine. The BiH Court will then issue a new decision, commuting the prison sentence to a fine, and give Dodik a 30-day deadline to pay the money into the Budget of BiH Institutions. Once he does that, Dodik will, in effect, have served part of the sanction imposed by the BiH Court.

However, the execution of the other part of the verdict remains questionable. The Central Election Commission of BiH will likely issue a decision on Wednesday determining the cessation of Milorad Dodik's mandate as president of Republika Srpska. Dodik will have the right to appeal the decision of the CEC to the Appellate Division of the BiH Court, which is competent to rule on election appeals. Given that Dodik lost his mandate based on the BiH Court's verdict, the Appellate Division of the BiH Court will confirm the CEC's decision. From that moment, likely the beginning of next week, Milorad Dodik will formally cease to be the president of Republika Srpska. Dodik can, of course, avoid receiving the CEC's decision, and until he receives it, the deadline for appealing to the Appellate Division of the BiH Court will not begin to run. In this way, Milorad Dodik can buy some time until a final decision is made on the revocation of the mandate of the president of Republika Srpska.

Dodik, we remind you, was convicted for a criminal offense stipulated by Article 203a of the Criminal Code of BiH, which states: “An 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 local self-government body, 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 a prison sentence of six months to five years”.

For the criminal offense under this Article, the Law states that a security measure prohibiting the performance of duties shall be imposed. In addition, in accordance with Articles 113 and 114 of the Criminal Code of BiH, a conviction for this criminal offense has the legal consequence of:

“a) termination of official duty and termination of employment;
b) revocation of decorations;
c) prohibition of holding official duty in legislative, executive, judicial, administrative, or any body financed wholly or partially from public funds; and
d) prohibition of acquiring official duty in legislative, executive, judicial, administrative, or any body financed wholly or partially from public funds.”

This means that Dodik cannot hold any political office for the next six years (prime minister, representative, minister, member of the BiH Presidency, delegate in the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliament…)

Can Dodik be the president of SNSD?

According to the provisions of the Criminal Code of BiH, the legal consequence of a conviction for the criminal offense for which Milorad Dodik has been convicted also includes a prohibition from holding official duty in legislative, executive, judicial, administrative, or any body financed wholly or partially from public funds.

The law does not clearly define what constitutes a body, so it cannot be stated with certainty whether a political party is a “body”. This means it is unclear whether Milorad Dodik can remain president of SNSD. Furthermore, the OHR adopted a Decision in April this year suspending all payments of budget funds for the financing of political parties for the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) and United Srpska.

“All payments of budget funds for the financing of the SNSD and United Srpska political parties in the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the National Assembly of Republika Srpska, cantonal assemblies, city and municipal assemblies/councils, and the Assembly of Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina are immediately suspended,” the OHR decision stated.

Given that, following the OHR's decision, SNSD is no longer financed by budget funds, the legal provision stipulating the legal consequence whereby a convicted person is prohibited from holding office in any body financed wholly or partially from public funds could not be applied. This means that the OHR, by its decision in April this year, effectively enabled Milorad Dodik to remain at the head of SNSD.

Early Elections

The Central Election Commission of BiH will, after revoking the mandate of the president of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik, call for early elections. These elections, if everything is in accordance with the law, should be held by mid-November at the latest. However, this raises another question – can the CEC conduct elections in Republika Srpska. If other opposition parties from Republika Srpska follow the stance of PDP president Draško Stanivuković and decide to boycott the early elections for the president of Republika Srpska, it is questionable whether these elections will be held. Regardless, Dodik will face many formal obstacles to remaining in the position of president of Republika Srpska. For example, the moment the decision to revoke the mandate of the president of Republika Srpska becomes final, Dodik will no longer be able to sign decrees on the promulgation of laws and other acts within his jurisdiction. In addition, Dodik will not be able to issue orders to banks for payments from the budget of Republika Srpska, and the positions of the president of Republika Srpska. The fact that Dodik will come to work in the office of the president of Republika Srpska and present himself as the president of Republika Srpska does not mean he will be able to take any formal action within the scope of the president of Republika Srpska's authority.