SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — The Bosnian judiciary announced on Thursday that it has issued a call for an international arrest warrant for the President of the Bosnian Serb entity, Milorad Dodik. The demand follows Dodik’s persistent support for separatism, which has recently come under legal scrutiny.
According to the Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina’s statement, the request for Dodik’s arrest was filed on Wednesday and submitted for consideration by Interpol. Dodik, a pro-Russian leader of the Serb-majority region in Bosnia, has consistently advocated for the territory’s secession from Bosnia, heightening concerns about potential regional instability. Despite facing sanctions from the U.S. and the U.K. due to his separatist actions, he has found an ally in Moscow.
In defiance of Bosnian legal mandates, Dodik has declined to comply with orders to attend legal questioning related to allegations that he contravened Bosnia’s constitution. Recently, he traveled to Serbia, engaging in a meeting with the country’s populist President, Aleksandar Vucic, and subsequently journeying to Israel.
President Vucic has expressed that Serbia will not act on any extradition requests for Dodik, criticizing the legal actions against him as an overreach. “Nothing out of the ordinary, justice is being misused,” commented Dodik in an interview with a Bosnian Serb television network in Jerusalem when questioned about the warrant. “Bosnia is a failed state,” he added.
The Bosnian court’s statement also mentioned its plans to arrest Nenad Stevandic, the Bosnian Serb parliamentary speaker, who also visited Serbia recently for a short duration. Serbia’s Interior Minister, Ivica Dacic, confirmed that both Dodik and Stevandic hold Serbian citizenship. In response to Bosnia’s request, Belgrade has registered a formal protest with Interpol, Dacic stated.
The situation has escalated fears of conflicts between Dodik-loyal police forces and those aligned with the Bosnian state, increasing tensions reminiscent of the significant ethnic conflict in Bosnia from 1992 to 1995, where over 100,000 lives were lost. The Bosnian conflict ended with a U.S.-mediated peace agreement, establishing two administrations linked by central governance structures.
During the 1990s, following the dissolution of Yugoslavia, Bosnia’s Serbs engaged in an armed conflict aiming to establish a state that would merge with Serbia. Bosnia has been on an uncertain journey toward European Union membership, a path fraught with ongoing ethnic and political disagreements.