As of December 2024, the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has been looking into a suspected attack on the country’s constitutional order, according to a statement released by the Prosecutor’s Office shortly after Republika Srpska (RS) President Milorad Dodik signed a decree that prohibits BiH police and judicial bodies from operating within the entity’s borders. CIN has discovered that Dodik is among those under investigation.
In late February, the Court of BiH issued a first-instance ruling against Dodik, sentencing him to one year in prison and banning him from holding office for six years for defying the decisions of the High Representative for BiH. Just days later, the RS authorities, under his leadership, initiated actions to dismantle the existing judicial and police systems in BiH.
The Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina has ramped up its investigation following the decision by the entity government to enact a law that prohibits the Court of BiH, Prosecutor’s Office of BiH, the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC), and the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) from operating within Republika Srpska, while also threatening prison sentences for employees of these institutions who refuse to comply with orders to leave their posts and move to entity-level institutions.
On 27 February, during the adoption of the law in the RS National Assembly, Milorad Dodik stated that they had been preparing for this move for years. A week later, he signed the decrees enacting the law, which is set to take effect on 6 March.
The Prosecutor’s Office of BiH is investigating whether government officials, including Dodik, who were involved in proposing and drafting these laws, are criminally responsible for attacking the constitutional order and threatening the territorial integrity of BiH.
Until two years ago, the law only recognised an attack on the constitutional order and territorial integrity through the use of force. However, following the intervention of the High Representative, the Criminal Code of BiH was amended to include a provision allowing an attack to be carried out in „any other unlawful manner“. Both offences carry a minimum sentence of five years in prison and a ban on holding public office. As Dodik was not acting alone, the Prosecutor’s Office is also reviewing evidence against several individuals for potential charges of conspiracy to commit these criminal acts, CIN has learned from the Prosecutor’s Office.
Secession Group
According to a US government report, in 2024, Dodik had directed members of his Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) to form a group tasked with devising a plan for the secession of Republika Srpska (RS) from BiH. The group drafted a plan for the purported peaceful separation of the entity, and its members later took part in preparing legislation to ban BiH institutions from operating within RS. This did not go unnoticed by the US government, which imposed sanctions on two prominent members of the group—RS Minister of the Interior Siniša Karan and RS Government Secretary-General Dalibor Panić—on 17 January 2025.
However, the group’s work continued through the institutions, resulting in the adoption of laws prohibiting the operation of BiH judicial and police institutions within the territory of Republika Srpska and imposing penalties on those who defy these bans.
Expert in constitutional law Nedim Ademović believes there are grounds to look into the criminal liability of everyone who was involved in passing the contentious laws.
„Even attempting to commit such a criminal act is punishable, and incitement is also punishable“, Ademović told CIN. According to him, everyone involved in the adoption of the laws in RS knew they were going against the legally binding rulings of the BiH Constitutional Court, which had previously upheld the High Representative’s authority to enforce rulings through legislation.
Politician and legal expert Damir Arnaut argues that this constitutes a criminal offence, as the laws attempting to alter the constitutional order were passed by an unauthorised body and in an unlawful manner. „There is clear criminal responsibility for the proposers in the Government of Republika Srpska, all the members of the Government who approved the drafts of these laws, the Speaker of the RS National Assembly who put them on the agenda, and the President of RS, Milorad Dodik, who signed the decrees enacting these laws. The President of Republika Srpska himself has committed a new criminal offence. To be clear, even the members of the NSRS who voted for these laws have committed a criminal offence, but they enjoy immunity that may shield them from prosecution”, says Arnaut.
The Constitutional Court of BiH previously ruled that the competencies transferred by the entities to the state become the competencies of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and cannot be reversed or annulled by a decision from one entity, nor by a new agreement between both entities. However, the new laws propose exactly such a scenario.
Radovan Kovačević, a delegate in the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly and a member of SNSD, argues that by adopting these laws, the RS authorities are not violating the BiH Constitution but are, in fact, protecting it.
„Under the Constitution, Bosnia and Herzegovina has no jurisdiction over the judiciary; that responsibility lies with Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It also has no authority over security matters and security agencies, which fall under the jurisdiction of RS and the FBiH“, says Kovačević. „By defending the BiH Constitution, Republika Srpska is working to bring Bosnia and Herzegovina back within the bounds of the rule of law and the Constitution. Kovačević continues, „This is not an attack on Bosnia and Herzegovina or the constitutional order, but rather a defence of it.“
His colleague Šefik Džaferović, a member of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) in the House of Peoples, disagrees with him, saying: „It is very evident that this is an attack on Bosnia and Herzegovina’s constitutional order. It is punishable as a serious criminal offence.“
However, Džaferović is confident that these laws cannot have any effect, as SIPA, the Court of BiH, and the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH operate based on state laws, not entity laws.
Meanwhile, eleven members of the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly from the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) and the Democratic Front have announced they will file an appeal to the Constitutional Court of BiH on Friday, 7 March.
„We are requesting a protective measure and asking the Constitutional Court, through this appeal, to annul the unconstitutional laws that attack the constitutional order of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina,“ stated SDA MP Safet Kešo to CIN.
The state institutions affected by the adopted laws – the BiH Prosecutor’s Office, SIPA, the Court of BiH, and the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC) – have not yet issued an official statement.
