The Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has issued an order to the judicial police to arrest the leadership of the Republika Srpska, including its pro-Russian president, Milorad Dodik, as reported by Radio Slobodna Evropa
The Prosecutor's Office issued the arrest order for Dodik, as well as for Prime Minister Radovan Višković and Speaker of the National Assembly of Republika Srpska Nenad Stevandić.
The arrest warrants accuse them of committing the criminal offense of "undermining the constitutional order."
The order was issued on the day the National Assembly of Republika Srpska was supposed to discuss the draft constitution, according to which the Republika Srpska government plans to define this entity within BiH as the state of the Serb people, grant it the right to self-determination, and create its own army.
All these provisions contradict the constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, of which Republika Srpska is a part, populated predominantly by Bosnian Serbs.
The Criminal Procedure Code of BiH provides the possibility of issuing an order for compulsory delivery to testify if a person summoned to judicial authorities refuses to do so.
On March 12, the RS Parliament is also expected to discuss an unconstitutional act on the creation of a special court and prosecutor’s office to allegedly "protect the constitutional order."
The announced adoption of the Republika Srpska constitution is another separatist move by the RS government, following the laws passed last week that ban the operation of judicial and investigative bodies of BiH on its territory.
Since Dodik was sentenced by a BiH court in the first instance to one year in prison and a six-year ban on political activity for disrespecting the decisions of the High Representative, the government of Republika Srpska has adopted a series of unconstitutional laws.
These laws have been almost universally condemned worldwide, from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and several foreign embassies in BiH.
The European Parliament will discuss the separatist threats in Bosnia and Herzegovina at its plenary session on March 12.
