Bosnian Serb leader’s prison term replaced with fine

A Sarajevo court previously sentenced Milorad Dodik to one year in jail and banned him from political office for six years

The state court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has converted a one year-prison term for Milorad Dodik, the president of the autonomous Serb-majority Republika Srpska, into a fine.

Earlier this month, an appeals court in Sarajevo confirmed a one-year prison sentence and a six-year ban from political office handed to Dodik in February by a lower court over alleged anti-constitutional conduct.

The ruling on Tuesday means that the Bosnian Serb leader will pay 36,500 convertible marks (around $21,600) instead of spending actual time behind bars.

The decision followed a proposal by Dodik’s defense and an opinion from the Balkan country’s Prosecutor’s Office.

Bosnian legislation allows for sentences of up to one year to be exchanged for a fine of €52 per day of prison time.

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Dodik had been accused of blocking Constitutional Court rulings in Republika Srpska and defying Christian Schmidt, a German national who heads the Office of the High Representative (OHR), which oversees the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement that ended the Bosnian War. The Bosnian Serb leader has long accused Schmidt of overreach and infringing on Republika Srpska’s autonomy.

Last week, Bosnia’s Central Election Commission revoked Dodik’s presidential mandate in line with the ban on him holding office. However, he called the decision “just more crap from Sarajevo” and insisted he will not be stepping down.

Dodik, who opposes Bosnia’s EU accession and integration with NATO, previously accused Brussels of being behind the attack on him. He pledged to seek support from Serbia, Russia, and the administration of US President Donald Trump.

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The head of the parliamentary group of Dodik’s SNSD party in the National Assembly of Republika Srpska, Srdjan Mazalica, was still left dissatisfied with the court’s decision, slamming the whole trial as a “judicial disgrace.”

“The verdict against Dodik is full of procedural mistakes and violations of the Criminal Procedure Code. The so-called ‘Sarajevo deep state’ has decided to further deepen the crisis,” Mazalica said, insisting that the case should go to the European Court of Human Rights.