The prosecutor's office in Bosnia & Herzegovina charged nationalist Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik on August 11 for disobeying decisions by the international official overseeing peace in the country. The sentence for this crime is six months to five years in prison.

President of Republika Srpska, Bosnia’s Serb entity, Dodik has taken steps towards secession in the last two years. He also repeatedly criticised his political opponents and Western ambassadors to the country.

Last month, he promulgated two laws rejected by the international community’s high representative, former German minister Christian Schmidt, who considered they are inconsistent with the Bosnian constitution and the peace agreement that ended the war of 1992-1995.

One of the laws suspended the decisions of the Bosnian state-level Constitutional Court in Republika Srpska, and the other blocked the publication of Schmidt's decrees in the official gazette.

Along with Dodik, the prosecution also indicted Milos Lukic, the director of the official journal.

Both Dodik and Lukic were indicted for “the criminal act of failing to execute the decisions of the High Representative”. 

Dodik's presidential office responded in a statement to the Serbian news agency Srna, claiming that the president "is indicted for following the explicit provisions of the Constitution of Republika Srpska and did not allow anyone or anything to be above the Constitution and the laws Republika Srpska, especially the decree of an illegitimate foreigner, who was not elected".