Milorad Dodik continues to serve as president of the Bosnian entity of Republika Srpska, because the recently imposed prison sentence and ban on holding office did not enter into force with the verdict.
The statement from the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina does not state that any measures have been adopted to prevent him from doing so, after he handed down the first-instance verdict on February 26, which both the Prosecution and the Defense can appeal.
The verdict states that Dodik was sentenced to one year in prison and a six-year ban from holding the office of President of Republika Srpska (RS) for disobeying the decisions of the High Representative.
Miloš Lukić, acting director of the Official Gazette of the RS, was acquitted in the first instance proceedings.
The court did not ban Dodik from political activities?
The Court of BiH emphasized in its ruling that Dodik is barred from holding the office of President of the RS, but it does not state that he is prohibited from political activity or holding any other office.
The Criminal Code of BiH, however, in the section that deals with non-implementation of decisions of the High Representative, emphasizes that the security measure of prohibition from performing duties is imposed upon the finality of the verdict.
These measures include termination of official duties and employment, and a ban on performing official duties in the legislative, executive, judicial, administrative or any body that is fully or partially financed from public funds.
It is also prohibited to hold an official position in a legislative, executive, judicial, administrative or any other body that is fully or partially financed from public funds.
The Prosecutor's Office of BiH requested that these legal consequences, stipulated by the Criminal Code, be established in the verdict.
The Court of BiH announced that no special decision was made in the verdict, "due to the fact that the legal consequences of the conviction occur automatically, that is, by force of law, after the verdict becomes final."
And according to the Election Law of BiH, Dodik, even if he is sentenced to one year in prison by a final verdict, will no longer be able to run for public office.
The BiH Election Law defines that an official who has been sentenced by a final judgment to prison sentences longer than six months cannot be a candidate for public office in the country.
As for the prison sentence, if it is imposed for the same duration and is final, Dodik can avoid it.
According to the law, a prison sentence of up to one year may, at the request of the convicted person, be replaced with a fine payable in a lump sum within 30 days.
In that case, Dodik would pay 100 marks (about 50 euros) per day, or 36.500 marks (more than 18.000 euros) to avoid going to prison.
What happens if Dodik does not respect the verdict?
Aleksandar Jokić, a lawyer from Banja Luka, explains to Radio Free Europe that, if the verdict becomes final, no one will prevent Dodik from coming to the building where the RS president's headquarters are located.
"If it becomes final, he must not hold office, he must relinquish it or elections must be called. Both options can be possible," said Jokić.
He also points out that Dodik himself should worry about the consequences that follow from this, which, among other things, include possible detention.
"If he violates that ban, if it is established and legally binding, he will be sentenced to prison for the duration of the ban. So if the ban says six years, if he starts engaging in politics after two years, he will go to prison for four years," said Jokić.
What is the procedure after the first instance verdict?
After the verdict against Dodik is pronounced, the Court of BiH has 30 days to deliver a copy of the verdict to the parties, after which the deadline for appeal begins.
The deadline for appeal by the defense and prosecution is then 15 days, with the possibility of extending the deadline for an additional 15 days upon special request.
"The transcript is delivered by mail, registered mail, and from the moment of receipt, when everyone receives the verdict, the deadline for appeal begins to run from that moment. In essence, the verdict is not final until the deadline for appeal has expired, and an appeal has been filed, or until the appeals are decided, if the appeals are rejected or the appeals are upheld and the first-instance verdict is reversed," said Jokić.
He states that there is a third option, which is to uphold the appeal and send the case back for a retrial. In that case, the proceedings start from the beginning, with the caveat that previously heard witnesses are not heard again on the same circumstances, but their statements are read.
"Which means that there are several variants of when the verdict becomes final, but it is certain that it is not final on the day of its pronouncement, or even on the day the verdict is delivered to the parties," said Jokić.
What was Dodik convicted of?
At the sessions of the RS National Assembly in June 2023, unconstitutional laws were passed stating that the legal acts of the High Representative would not be published in the RS Official Gazette, and that the decisions of the Constitutional Court of BiH, which are final and binding under the Constitution of BiH, would not be applied on the territory of that entity.
High Representative Christian Schmidt, with the Bonn Authorization, repealed two entity laws on July 1, 2023, and introduced amendments to the Criminal Code of BiH, making failure to implement the High Representative's decisions a criminal offense.
On July 7, 2023, Dodik signed decrees declaring these laws valid, and they were published in the Official Gazette of the RS.
The BiH Prosecutor's Office filed an indictment against Dodik and Lukić on August 11th, and the court confirmed it on September 11th.
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