After the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina requested the issuance of an Interpol arrest warrant for the President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, and the Speaker of the RS National Assembly, Nenad Stevandic, the Serbian authorities have spoken out.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior of Serbia Ivica Dačić stated that Dodik and Stevandić are citizens of Serbia.
"The Republic of Serbia firmly and resolutely protects the rights and interests of its citizens, both domestically and internationally. Our state is committed to preserving the sovereignty and human rights of its citizens, recognizing that the protection of every individual is the foundation of our international obligations. Both Milorad Dodik and Nenad Stevandić are citizens of the Republic of Serbia, and the international arrest warrants that BiH is referring to have not yet been reviewed by the Interpol General Secretariat in terms of meeting the conditions for their publication, and do not constitute grounds for action," Dačić stated.
It was further stated that "given the fact that these are citizens of Serbia, INTERPOL Belgrade sent a protest note to the INTERPOL General Secretariat" because, as they stated, the requests for issuing international arrest warrants violated Article 3 of the INTERPOL Statute, which reads:
"Any activity or intervention in matters or cases that have a political, military, religious or racial background is strictly prohibited in the Organization."
"The INTERPOL General Secretariat confirmed receipt of our protest, and stated that it will take it into consideration, and that it will inform us of the results of the consideration in a timely manner," said Dačić.
The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has requested the issuance of an international arrest warrant for Dodik and Stevandic, which will be reviewed by the Interpol General Secretariat in Lyon. If confirmed, it becomes active and only then can Interpol member states act on it.
The Court of BiH stated that the request for an international arrest warrant was sent at the proposal of the State Prosecutor's Office, because Dodik and Stevandić, who are suspected of attacking the constitutional order of BiH, crossed the state border and left BiH, using their positions as high-ranking RS officials and avoiding legally prescribed border control procedures.
If the warrant passes Interpol's review, it will be published as a so-called "red notice" available to all 195 member states. It is an international request to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, extradition or similar legal proceedings.
Serbia, based on the 2013 Extradition Treaty with BiH, can extradite Dodik even if he is a Serbian citizen, as Article 8, paragraph 1 of that treaty stipulates that citizenship is not an obstacle to extradition. If Interpol issues a red notice and BiH officially requests extradition, Serbia is obliged to carry out the extradition procedure in accordance with the law and the treaty, but the final decision is made by the competent court and the Minister of Justice.
The fact that Dodik is a Serbian citizen does not prevent his extradition to BiH, because he was charged in Sarajevo with a criminal offense that carries a minimum sentence of five years in prison, which fulfills the condition from the Extradition Treaty between Serbia and BiH, which stipulates that a contracting state can extradite its citizens if they are suspected in another state of criminal offenses that carry a minimum sentence of five years.
The BiH Prosecutor's Office suspects Dodik and Stevandić of "attacking the constitutional order", considering them, along with RS Prime Minister Radovan Višković, most responsible for the adoption of laws that prohibit the work of some state judicial institutions and the BiH Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) on the territory of BiH.
A central arrest warrant was previously issued for them, which applies to the territory of BiH, but it was assessed that the classic detention procedure would carry too high a security risk.
On Monday, Dodik crossed the state border of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the first time since the arrest warrant was issued. This, as previously explained from a legal perspective, opened the possibility of initiating the procedure for issuing an international arrest warrant. After a short stay in Serbia, Dodik immediately continued his journey to Israel, where he is currently located.
After the request for an international arrest warrant for him, Dodik said that the abuse of the BiH judiciary for political purposes continues.
"Nothing unusual, the abuse of the judiciary continues, Muslims from Sarajevo are trying to do everything, as well as the unconstitutional Prosecutor's Office and the Court of BiH to instrumentalize it," Dodik said in Jerusalem. He said he plans to return to BiH next week.
"I will continue with my activities. I have some more important activities waiting for me in the coming days for the RS and I will return to the RS peacefully next week," Dodik said yesterday.
The RS government announced yesterday that it expects Interpol to reject the request of the Court of BiH to issue an international arrest warrant for Dodik and Stevandić, stating that "it is more than clear that this is a political showdown with the RS institutions by the extra-constitutional judicial institutions of BiH."
The BiH Border Police announced that an investigation has been launched into the manner in which Dodik managed to cross the border, especially since information has emerged that his escort crossed the Rača border crossing under rotating lights without the usual stop.
A similar case was recorded in mid-March, when Stevandić left the country for Serbia on the day of mass student protests on March 15. A few days later, he returned to BiH, but the manner of his return remained unknown to the public. RS Prime Minister
Radovan Višković has not crossed the state border yet, which is why an Interpol arrest warrant has not been requested for him.
Arrest would be a high-risk action.
Security experts say Dodik's arrest must be carefully planned to avoid an armed clash with the RS police, who have promised to protect him and his associates.
Reuters writes that it is currently unclear how the situation will develop further for Dodik, and that his support among ordinary Serbs appears to be declining, given that almost no one is responding to his calls to leave their jobs in state institutions.
Our Party (NS) MP in the BiH parliament, Predrag Kojović, stated yesterday that the arrest of Dodik is a high-risk action, which is why pressure should not be exerted on the judicial police to do so.
"Other police and security agencies are also involved, and I leave it to them to assess the place and time when they will carry out their legal obligation. I think they should be allowed to do their job the way they do," Kojović told BHRT.
He added that Dodik is now "moving under significant armed escort", but that he believes that there will be no escalation of the conflict, because Dodik "has no support for what he is doing, neither among citizens, nor among the opposition in RS, nor among the international community".
Had to leave the conference in Jerusalem
The Israeli newspaper "Israel Hayom", which previously wrote about Milorad Dodik's "controversial" participation in the "Conference on Combating Anti-Semitism" in Jerusalem, announced that Israeli officials "made it clear to the President of the Republic of Srpska that he was not welcome at the event, which prompted him to leave the venue."
The newspaper writes that after the announcement that an international arrest warrant had been requested, Israeli officials "informed Dodik that he was not wanted, which led to his departure with an escort."
N1 BiH writes that Dodik arrived in Israel at the invitation of Diaspora Affairs Minister Amihai Chikli, who has already come under fire for inviting far-right figures to the conference. As a result, many prominent figures canceled their participation.
Dodik told the Jerusalem Post that he left the event because he "felt like an intruder."
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