The top court in Bosnia and Herzegovina has rejected an appeal by Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik against a verdict barring him from politics.
The Constitutional Court’s decision on Tuesday was Dodik’s last legal recourse before the country’s judiciary, months after a Sarajevo court convicted him for refusing to comply with decisions issued by the international envoy overseeing the country’s peace deal.
Dodik, former president of Bosnia’s autonomous Serb Republic or Republika Srpska, was sentenced in February to one year in prison for defying Christian Schmidt, the German diplomat responsible for safeguarding the 1995 peace accords that ended Bosnia’s 1990s war.
He was also banned from holding political office for six years and stripped of his post as president.
Dodik, a pro-Russian nationalist who has pushed for Republika Srpska to break away and join Serbia, had rejected the ruling and vowed to challenge his political ban.
The case goes back to July 2023, when Dodik pushed through legislation in the Republika Srpska parliament banning the enforcement of all decisions issued by Schmidt, the international envoy.
In response, Schmidt used his executive powers to amend Bosnia’s criminal code, introducing a new offence for failing to comply with his own rulings – the charge under which Dodik was convicted.
In their Constitutional Court appeal, Dodik’s lawyers argued that Schmidt had no authority to intervene in the criminal code, saying only the national parliament was empowered to do so.
But the top court on Tuesday ruled that Dodik’s claims challenging Schmidt’s status and authority were “unfounded”.
“The appellant’s right to a fair trial was not violated in the criminal proceedings against him,” it said in a statement.
Dodik’s lawyers have already announced that they would take the case to the European Court of Human Rights.
Dodik and his legal team did not immediately comment on Tuesday’s ruling.
Last month, the Republika Srpska parliament appointed Ana Trisic Babic as interim president ahead of elections scheduled for November 23.
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