Republika Srpska (RS) President Milorad Dodik said today that the first-instance decision of the Appellate Chamber of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which sentenced him to one year in prison and a six-year ban on holding public office, was "a purely political decision".
"Nothing unexpected, it is a pure political decision and will. It is an attack on Republika Srpska, personalized through Milorad Dodik," Dodik said at a press conference in Banja Luka.
The goal of the verdict, he stated, is his "political elimination".
He stressed that he does not accept the verdict of the Court of BiH, which, as he said, was created by the European Union (EU), with the head of the EU Delegation to BiH, Luigi Sorrec.
He stated that the RS National Assembly would issue a statement on the verdict and that he would respect the decision of the entity parliament.
He reiterated that according to the "Constitution of BiH, there is neither a prosecutor's office, nor a court, nor a high representative, who can make decisions with the force of law," accusing High Representative Christian Schmidt of "creating chaos in BiH on orders from outside."
"We have the tools to respond. We have an open debate on the new Constitution, we have passed laws, which we will reaffirm. We will not hesitate to protect the interests of RS and to protect peace," Dodik said.
He called on the people of RS to remain calm, adding that early elections in RS will not be held as long as he holds the office of entity president.
Dodik called on the people of Republika Srpska and the police not to allow early elections for the president of Republika Srpska to be held.
"I expect full support from Serbia, I will turn to Russia for support, we will write to the new American administration. This is shameful, this has nothing to do with democracy, rightly so, this has only to do with Muslim efforts to dominate BiH," he announced.
He told Serbs in the RS that "if they don't wake up now, in five years they will experience an exodus and become a dramatic minority and will not be able to express their political views."
"The people should not be afraid. No gun will fire here. Our greatest strength is unity. As far as we could read, I am not forbidden from remaining the president of the party (SNSD). We will stay together. After six years, when I return to the elections, we will have a different platform, if we decide to do so, but I hope that by then there will be no BiH, at least not the Court and Prosecutor's Office of BiH," Dodik concluded.
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