Rubio: Dodik's actions threaten the security and stability of Bosnia and Herzegovina

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that the actions of the President of Republika Srpska (RS), Milorad Dodik, pose a threat to the security and stability of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and undermine its state institutions.

"Our government calls on political leaders in Bosnia and Herzegovina to engage in constructive and responsible dialogue. We call on our partners in the region to join us in opposing this dangerous and escalating behavior," Rubio wrote on the social network X early Saturday.

Dodik decreed on March 5 the laws adopted by the Assembly of Republika Srpska - the Serb entity of Bosnia - which prohibit the work of the Court, the Prosecutor's Office, the State Investigation Agency (SIPA), as well as the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of Bosnia on the territory of this entity.

Responding to the reaction of the US Embassy in Sarajevo - which expressed concern about the enactment of unconstitutional laws - Dodik claimed on March 6 that the Trump administration does not hold the same positions as the previous Biden administration.

"Apparently, no one informed the staff at the US Embassy in Sarajevo that [Joe] Biden is no longer president," Dodik wrote on X.

"Today's reaction is a repetition of past times and we believe it does not reflect a balanced stance of the new administration," he added.

On March 7, the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina imposed a temporary measure and banned the implementation of these laws of the Serbian entity.

The Court, the Bosnian Prosecutor's Office and SIPA were established based on laws adopted by the Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina and those laws were confirmed by the State House of People. To be abolished, according to the state Constitution, a vote of the Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina is required.

The Republika Srpska Assembly adopted the laws on February 27, after the Bosnian Court sentenced Dodik to one year in prison and banned him from holding the office of RS president for six years.

The system of governance in Bosnia and Herzegovina – a country of about 3.1 million people – is among the most complex in the world.

Since the Dayton Peace Agreement, which was signed in 1995 and ended the war in Bosnia, the country has been made up of the Bosniak-Croat Federation and the ethnic Serb-dominated Republika Srpska, under a weak central government.

The Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina announced that it has been conducting an investigation for months due to suspicions that the criminal offense of "attack on the constitutional order" has been committed.

The Bosnian Criminal Code provides for sentences of up to five years in prison and a ban on holding official office if someone "unlawfully attempts to change the constitutional order of Bosnia and Herzegovina or overthrow its highest institutions."

Dodik was found guilty and sentenced by the Court of First Instance for disobeying the decisions of the international High Representative, Christian Schmidt, and signing the decree declaring laws that Schmidt had previously declared invalid, laws that aimed to prevent the implementation of the decisions of the Bosnian Constitutional Court and the High Representative on the territory of the RS.

The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has issued an interim measure for the non-implementation of the Law on the Special Register and Transparency of the Work of Non-Profit Organizations. The request was submitted by Kemal Ademović, Deputy Speaker of the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

This law, adopted by the RS Assembly, in accordance with Russian law, imposes strict control over the activities of the civil sector in RS./ REL