The Parliament of Republika Srpska, the Serb entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, passed a law on Thursday banning the country’s central justice and police authorities from operating on its territory.
The move was in reaction to the conviction of Bosnian Serb political leader Milorad Dodik the day before.
“We have adopted the law banning the operation of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s non-constitutional institutions in Republika Srpska,” Nenad Stevandic, the speaker of parliament, said following the vote.
Of the 52 parliamentarians present at the vote, which the opposition boycotted, 49 voted in favour of the law while three voted against, according to Stevandic.
The institutions targeted by this law include the State Court of Bosnia, which convicted Dodik, the State Prosecutor’s Office, which charged him, the central police force, and the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (VSTV), responsible for appointing judges and prosecutors across the country.
Milorad Dodik, 65, President of Republika Srpska since 2006, was sentenced on Wednesday by the State Court in Sarajevo to one year in prison, with a six-year ban on holding office.
In an unprecedented trial, he was found guilty of failing to comply with the decisions of the International High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, responsible for overseeing the Dayton Peace Agreement.
The 1995 Dayton Agreement ended the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia and led to the creation of the confederated state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, composed of two parts: the largely Serb-populated Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, populated mainly by Croats and Bosniaks.
“We are very serious in our intentions. We believe this is the final deadline to do this,” Dodik told the media shortly before the vote. “We have enough resources to defend our decisions,” he added.
The legislative process is not concluded with Thursday's vote as the texts can be brought before the Constitutional Court.
Analysts see this as a significant test for the country’s fragile central institutions.
