Curated By: Shankhyaneel Sarkar
Last Updated: September 02, 2023, 08:04 IST
Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina
Bosnian Serbs display a banner depicting the Russian President Putin as they gather in the outskirts of the nation’s capital, Sarajevo, to protest against prosecutors who charged Bosnian-Serb political leader, Milorad Dodik over two controversial laws. (Image: AFP)
Bosnian President Milorad Dodik brought two laws that made the recommendations by the top international envoy to Bosnia non-binding.
Several thousand Serbs in Bosnia briefly blocked traffic at key points between the country’s two semi-autonomous entities Friday after prosecutors charged President Milorad Dodik over two controversial laws he passed.
Some protesters brandished a portrait of Dodik while others had an effigy of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Other demonstrators carried Serbian and Russian flags, AFP journalists noted.
Simultaneous protests took place in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo and the regions of Tuzla, Doboj and Nevesinje.
Dodik, a Kremlin ally, signed into law legislation in July that would allow the Bosnian Serb entity to bypass or ignore decisions made by the top international envoy to Bosnia.
The United States says this undermines the peace deal signed in Dayton, Ohio, which ended Bosnia’s 1992-1995 war.
Prosecutors announced the charging of Dodik on August 11 but it has not yet been ratified by the country’s top court.
“This is the last red line for the RS (Republika Srpska),” Anja Ljubojevic, parliamentary vice president of the Serb entity in the Bosnian tripartite government, told AFP.
“We are going to protect our goods, our institutions, because if they take them away from us, we won’t exist. The RS is sacred and we will defend it,” she added.
The protests took place at four points linking the Republika Srpska (RS) and the Muslim-Croat Federation that make up post-war Bosnia.
The two semi-autonomous entities are linked by a weak central government.
Initially the protesters planned to rally outside the Bosnian State Court but this was banned by police on security grounds.
“We want to say that this charge is political and aimed at preventing the president of the RS from carrying out his functions,” said Djordje Radanovic, one of the organisers of the protest.
The international envoy, currently German diplomat Christian Schmidt, oversees the civilian aspects of the Dayton peace deal. He has important executive powers including sacking elected officials and imposing laws.
But Dodik has refused to recognise Schmidt’s authority since the position lost the backing of the United Nations thanks to an intervention by Russia and Beijing.
Dodik has held enormous sway over the Bosnian Serb entity for years, repeatedly stoking ethnic tensions with his secessionist threats.
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