• The current crisis and threat to peace and security in Bosnia and Herzegovina is a direct result of the verdict announced by a Bosniak judge (former officer in the wartime Bosniak army) convicting the democratically elected President of the Republic of Srpska, Milorad Dodik and as such represents a direct breach of the Dayton Agreement, international law and the Constitution of BiH and the Constitution of the Republic of Srpska.
• Mr. Christian Schmidt, a German politician who falsely claims the title of High Representative, is acting unlawfully and beyond any legitimate mandate, driving Bosnia and Herzegovina toward the brink of collapse.
• Mr. Schmidt has taken every opportunity to undermine BiH’s democracy and preserve his own position, provoking crisis after crisis in BiH by his reckless edicts, threats and other illegal interference. Mr. Schmidt’s most egregious and reckless action was the unilateral imposition of criminal law by edict in July 2023, effectively threatening to imprison any officials of BiH who refuse to treat his decisions as though they were duly enacted by BiH’s legislature. In effect, a German bureaucrat, not confirmed by the UN Security Council, illegally imposed a law making it a criminal offense not to comply and abide with his unconstitutional and illegal orders.
• The democratically elected institutions of the RS (the National Assembly, the Government and the President) rightfully refused to comply with this neocolonial practise. This defiance resulted in a politically motivated trial and subsequent conviction of Mr. Milorad Dodik, President of RS and one of most prominent political figures in the region. The trial represents a potentially unprecedented destabilizing event in BiH since the 1992–1995 war.
• President Dodik was convicted in a politically driven trial of disobeying a clearly illegal and anti-democratic order of this German autocrat while fulfilling his legal and constitutional duties in signing laws passed by the National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska. The indictments and verdict are a shocking attack on democracy and the rule of law, piling illegality atop illegality, in a tyrannical effort to disable the RS’s democratically elected and legally appointed public servants.
• To add yet another layer of illegality, the prosecutor’s office that proposed the indictment and the court that confirmed it were both illegally created by the decrees of former HRs in flagrant violation of the BiH Constitution – both its legislative procedures and its clear division of competences between the BiH level of administration and the two Entities.
• This is legal warfare designed to remove from office an elected President, fully supported by his nation, in order to bring to power those who would totally destroy the Dayton Agreement and its protection of Serbs and Croats in order to create a centralized state dominated by the Bosniaks. It is also an implicit threat to all Serb and even Croat elected leaders, officials and representatives that if they do not fully comply with the German’s orders, that they will also face criminal prosecution.
• Christian Schmidt’s actions, supported by the prosecution service and the Court’s politically driven decision to sentence the President of the RS to one year in prison and impose a six-year ban on political engagement, have inflicted profound instability, injustice and turmoil upon the RS as well as BiH as a whole. This blatant abuse of power stems from a long-standing misinterpretation of the High Representative’s mandate, which has led to continuous violations of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s constitutional framework.
• Mr. Schmidt ravages the rule of law in BiH, manifestly violating BiH’s constitutional order, which requires laws to be passed through specific democratic procedures and adopted by the democratically elected institutions, such as the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, Republic of Srpska National Assembly or the Parliament of the Federation of BiH. No person – not even a legitimate High Representative – has authority to enact laws in BiH by edict, even by the so called fully undemocratic “Bonn Powers”.
• The Dayton Accords did create the position of HR, but its mandate is strictly limited and does not include any authority at all to make decisions that are binding on anyone, let alone to pass any legislation instead of domestic parliaments.
• In adherence to the principles of international law, the role of the High Representative should have been kept strictly within the mandate conferred upon it by Annex 10 of the Dayton Peace Agreement. The executive powers purportedly granted to the High Representative by the Peace Implementation Council (which has not been envisaged by the Dayton Agreement) at the Bonn Conference in 1997 have been falsely, unlawfully, and unconstitutionally interpreted as holding greater legal authority than the binding international treaty – the General Framework Agreement for Peace and its Annex 4, the Constitution of BiH. Such an unlawful interpretation has led to systematic violations of BiH’s constitutional framework and undermined its democratic governance.
• The OHR and its allies have set in motion a series of judicial processes in Bosnia and Herzegovina that threaten to lead the country into a state of complete disintegration. It is entirely unacceptable that the BiH prosecution is summoning and investigating members of the Republic of Srpska National Assembly – RSNA for their parliamentary debates and votes. Equally unacceptable is the BiH Prosecutor’s demand that political parties submit internal records and minutes from their meetings. These actions are reminiscent of authoritarian rule rather than a functioning democratic society.
• For years, various internationals have falsely accused the RS of undermining the Dayton Peace Agreement and seeking secession from BiH. In reality, the RS that has remained the principal defender of the Dayton Peace Agreement, BiH Constitution as well as of peace and stability in the country. It remains steadfast in its commitment to upholding these principles through peaceful means and exclusively within the framework of legitimate political actions.
• We are determined to restore the constitutional order which BiH was originally founded upon and annul the unlawful changes imposed by successive High Representatives. This would provide BiH a renewed opportunity for stability and prosperity. Should this effort fail, the RS will be left with no choice but to declare the BiH’s constitution defunct.
• The RS remains committed to finding a peaceful and democratic resolution to this impending catastrophe but stands equally resolute in defending its institutions and their constitutional rights by all necessary means.
• The RS remains open to internal dialogue with all legitimate representatives of the other two constituent peoples of BiH and urges all relevant parties to exercise restraint, maintain peace and preserve stability.
• To resolve the ongoing crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina, it is imperative that Mr. Schmidt be immediately removed from the position he is unlawfully holding, and that all actions arising from his illegal conduct – primarily amendments to legislation – be annulled. Legislative authority must be exercised exclusively by the parliaments, in full accordance with the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which constitutes an integral part of the Dayton Peace Agreement.