The Bosnia and Herzegovina State Court has announced a countrywide arrest warrant for Milorad Dodik along with two others. This action comes following the president of Bosnia's Serb-dominated region, Republika Srpska, disregarding a national arrest warrant just last week.
The remaining two individuals mentioned are the entity's Prime Minister Radovan Višković and National Assembly Speaker Nenad Stevandić. This arrest warrant indicates that law enforcement officers across the nation are required to apprehend these individuals upon sighting them without delay.
All of them are charged with acting against the constitution. According to reports from Bosnia's media, Stevandic departed for Serbia over the weekend and continues to stay outside the country.
The state-level prosecutors of Bosnia have issued arrest warrants for the three individuals. last week The nationwide arrest warrants are issued automatically when individuals sought by the state-level prosecutor’s office do not appear for questioning, similar to the situation with the three Bosnian Serb officials who have not complied.
Dodik hasn't made any comments about the new warrant yet, but he did post on X stating that the Republika Srpska is moving forward with plans to establish its own border police force. The specifics remain hazy as to whether these additional border officers—operating alongside the national level border security organization—would be deployed along the administrative boundary separating the two entities.
The 1995 Dayton Peace Accord, certain sections of which serve as the nation’s constitutional framework, has partitioned Bosnia into two primary administrative divisions—the Serb-dominated Republika Srpska (RS) and the Bosniak-Croat Federation of BIH (FBiH). These regions operate under an overarching national government headquartered in Sarajevo.
Dodik, who had earlier stated that he does not recognize the country's state-level prosecutor's office, dismissed the legitimacy of last week’s warrants and refused any efforts to arrest him. He also declared that he would not travel to Sarajevo for questioning.
In late February, Bosnia's national court found Dodik guilty for opposing the choices made by the country’s international peace representative, Christian Schmidt, an action considered illegal under the law. However, this ruling isn’t set in stone, as Dodik has the right to challenge it through an appeal.
Soon afterward, Dodik implemented new legislation aimed at prohibiting the functioning of state-level security and judicial bodies across roughly half of the Western Balkan nation's area.
The decisions have been temporarily suspended by the state-level Constitutional Court.
The international peacekeeping force in Bosnia led by Europe, known as EUFOR, has announced an increase in troop numbers due to rising tensions.