New unrest feared: Bosnian Serb leader Dodik must be imprisoned

The leader of the Bosnian Serbs has been imprisoned for abuse of power. He says the trial is politically motivated. Before the verdict, he threatened that the judge's decision could "deal a death blow" to Bosnia.

The leader of the Bosnian Serbs, Milorad Dodik, has been sentenced to one year in prison for violating international standards. The court in Sarajevo also ordered Dodik to resign from his position as president of the Serb-dominated region. The verdict could foment new unrest in the divided Balkan state. Dodik is considered a friend of Russia and is striving for the secession of the Serbian part of Bosnia.

The High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, the German politician Christian Schmidt, had repealed two laws signed by Dodik because he believed they violated the Bosnian constitution and the terms of the international Dayton peace agreement. The former Federal Minister of Agriculture and CSU politician Schmidt is to oversee the implementation of the civil aspects of the 1995 Dayton Agreement as High Representative.

Neither Dodik nor his lawyers attended the hearing. He had rejected the charges as politically motivated. "There is no reason to worry. I have learned to deal with more difficult things," he told supporters in Banja Luka. Dodik has two weeks to appeal the verdict, which also prohibits him from exercising government power for six years.

Before the verdict, Dodik had declared that a decision against him could "deal a death blow" to Bosnia. He would seek to divide the country if the verdict went against him. The pro-Russian politician has been subject to sanctions from Washington since 2017 because of his separatist policies.

The 1992-1995 war in Bosnia, part of a series of conflicts that followed the breakup of Yugoslavia, left around 100,000 people dead. A US-backed 1995 agreement, the Dayton Peace Accords, established two autonomous regions: the Serbian Republic and the Federation divided by Croats and Bosniaks. They are linked by a weak central government that has so far failed to bridge persistent ethnic divisions.