Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on February 28, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 25, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleBosnia's Serb region blocks state authorities, escalating a constitutional crisis after leader Dodik's sentencing. Russia supports Dodik, citing political motives.
By Daria Sito-Sucic
SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Bosnia's autonomous Serb region passed legislation barring the state police and judiciary from its territory after a court sentenced its separatist leader Milorad Dodik to a year in jail and banned him from politics for six years.
The move undermines state institutions, touching off a constitutional crisis in ethnically polarised post-war Bosnia. Russia, Dodik's most powerful supporter, said the sentence was politically motivated and would destabilise the Balkans.
The court in Bosnia's capital Sarajevo acted after Dodik
signed Serb Republic legislation suspending rulings by Bosnia's constitutional court and international envoy Christian Schmidt, who oversees implementation of the 1995 Dayton peace treaty.
Dodik, in remarks to lawmakers before they approved the law on Thursday evening, cast the move as an act of secession in defiance of the 1990s peace accord that kept Bosnia intact but split into two autonomous regions largely along ceasefire lines.
"This moment is favourable and I call on you to vote for the law without hesitation," the Bosnian Serb nationalist leader told MPs in Banja Luka, the regional capital. "We think this creates momentum for us to do this without the use of force."
Aleksandar Vucic, president of neighbouring Serbia, and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban also condemned the court verdict against Dodik.
(Reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic; editing by Mark Heinrich)
Bosnia's autonomous Serb region passed legislation barring the state police and judiciary from its territory.
Milorad Dodik is the separatist leader of the Serb region in Bosnia, who was sentenced by a court, prompting this legislative move.
The move undermines state institutions and triggers a constitutional crisis in Bosnia, which is already ethnically polarized.
Russia, Dodik's most powerful supporter, stated that the court's sentence was politically motivated.
Dodik referred to the legislative action as an act of secession in defiance of the 1990s peace accord that maintained Bosnia's unity.
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