Bosnian Serb Leader Defies Arrest Warrant, Vows Never to Surrender

Milorad Dodik said he will ignore a warrant for his arrest issued by the state prosecutor, while the Republika Srpska assembly began sessions to change the entity’s constitution and grant itself the right to have its own military.

After the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday issued an arrest warrant for Milorad Dodik, president of the Serb-led Republika Srpska entity, and two others, accusing them of an “attack on the constitutional order” of the country, Dodik vowed to defy the state-level judiciary.

Dodik said that he will “never answer the call” for questioning by the state prosecution, saying defiantly that “they can try to arrest” him – and also urged State Investigation and Protection Agency, SIPA officers not to act against him.

“There is no blow or hardship that I am not ready to endure for Republika Srpska. Milorad Dodik will continue to do his work and travel, but he will never leave Republika Srpska,” Dodik told media.

After the arrest warrant for Dodik was issued, Republika Srpska Interior Minister Sinisa Karan stated that the police in Republika Srpska will “protect” the entity’s officials.

Lawmakers in the National Assembly of Republika Srpska on Wednesday also began holding one of three sessions needed to change the entity’s constitution.

The proposed changes would grant Republika Srpska the right to have its own military, to change the capital city from Sarajevo to Banja Luka, and to form confederations with other countries, among other things.

The arrest warrants for Dodik, Republika Srpska Prime Minister Radovan Viskovic, and the speaker of the National Assembly of Republika Srpska, Nenad Stevandic, were issued after they failed to answer two summons for questioning.

The case was opened following Dodik’s state court verdict on February 26, when he was sentenced to one year in prison and a six-year ban on holding presidential office for defying the decisions of Bosnia’s international peace overseer, the High Representative.

In response to this, the Republika Srpska assembly passed laws banning the state-level prosecution, court, the State Investigation and Protection Agency, SIPA, and the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council, from exercising any jurisdiction in the entity.

Bosnia’s Constitutional Court temporarily suspended these laws on March 6, pending a final ruling, but Dodik insisted that the new laws would be implemented in the entity.

The Prosecutor’s Office can summon the individuals for questioning twice. If they fail to respond, an order for their detention may be issued.

If Dodik, Stevandic, and Vickovic resist detention, a national arrest warrant could follow. If they are not apprehended within Bosnia, Interpol may be asked issue a ‘red notice’ calling on states worldwide to detain them.

SIPA has rejected claims by some politicians that it failed to act to assist in attempts to arrest Dodik on Wednesday. SIPA spokesperson Jelena Miovcic told BIRN that the national police agency “did not refuse to assist the Court Police in enforcing the order of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the apprehension of Milorad Dodik for questioning”./BI/