Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić stated that Serbia will never support the arrests of officials from the Bosnian entity Republika Srpska.
"Serbia will never support the arrest of Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik, RS Prime Minister Radovan Višković and Republika Srpska Parliament Speaker Nenad Stevandić, especially not because of political disagreements with official Sarajevo and representatives of the international community, and will stand firmly with its people," Vučić said on Instagram.
The BiH Prosecutor's Office today issued an order for the arrest of Dodik, RS Prime Minister Radovan Višković, and the Speaker of the National Assembly of that entity, Nenad Stevandić, it was confirmed to Radio Free Europe (RSE).
The arrest warrant for giving statements states that they are suspects of the criminal offense of attacking the constitutional order, for which the Criminal Code of BiH provides for a prison sentence of five years, as well as the possibility of a ban on performing duties.
Speaking to reporters in Banja Luka, Dodik stated that a "haranguage against RS" had been launched from Sarajevo, speaking after an order was issued for his detention to give testimony to the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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Dodik repeated the claim he made in previous days, saying that he would not respond to the BiH Prosecutor's Office's summons for questioning, accusing the Court and Prosecutor's Office of an "inquisition".
"We will not respond, here you bring us in, let me see how you will do it. If they think the solution is to see Dodik in handcuffs, that is their scope, but that does not mean they can do it. I will do my job and I will never leave RS," Dodik said at a press conference, which was also addressed by Višković and Stevandić.
The Prosecutor's Office of BiH announced on March 6 that they have been conducting an investigation since December of last year due to the existence of grounds for suspicion that the criminal offense of "attack on the constitutional order" was committed. The Prosecutor's Office did not announce at the time what the investigation specifically relates to.
The order to detain Dodik, Višković and Stevandić was given today to the court police of the Court of BiH, with the assistance of the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) also requested.
"I would not recommend SIPA - even if it acts and I believe it will not. I also have confidence in the RS police," said Dodik, announcing that he would file criminal charges for "demolishing various things," without specifying who or what they specifically refer to.
Last week, Dodik announced on social media that the BiH Prosecutor's Office had summoned him to come on Friday, March 7, to give a statement "as a suspect in the overthrow of the constitutional order." At that time, he also said that he would not respond to the summons.
In a new media appearance, he stated that he had been summoned again to give evidence for Monday, March 10, and then stated that he had not received a summons from the Prosecutor's Office of BiH.
The Criminal Procedure Code of BiH provides for the possibility of issuing an order for forcible bringing to give a statement, in case the person summoned to the judicial institution refuses to do so. In case that is not possible either, the next step is to issue an arrest warrant.
Like Dodik, both Stevandić and Višković have said that they have no intention of responding to the BiH Prosecutor's Office's summons for questioning.
The order to detain Dodik, Stevandić and Višković, with the aim of giving statements to the Prosecutor's Office of BiH, comes on the day when the RS National Assembly session and the debate on the draft of the new RS Constitution are taking place.
With the new constitution, the entity's authorities plan to define RS as a state of the Serb people, grant it the right to self-determination, establish its own army, and abolish the Council of Peoples. In addition, RS lawmakers are expected to discuss the establishment of a special court and prosecutor's office for "protection of the constitutional order."
This is one of the moves that the RS authorities decided to make after Dodik was sentenced to a year in prison and a six-year ban from holding office on February 26, by a first-instance verdict of the Court of BiH, for disrespecting the decisions of the High Representative in BiH, Kristijan Šmit.
The day after the verdict, the RS Assembly adopted an unconstitutional law that attempted to ban the work of the Court and Prosecutor's Office of BiH, the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA), and the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council in the territory of that entity.
The unilateral termination of the jurisdiction of the state of BiH over a part of its territory is not in accordance with the Constitution of BiH and the Constitutional Court of BiH temporarily suspended this law on March 7th.
However, Dodik said that RS will not give up on the law despite warnings from the international community that attempts to overthrow the constitutional order are not acceptable.
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