Bosnian Serb Leader Plans Poll Challenging State Court

Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik proposed on Tuesday that a referendum challenging the authority of the state-level judiciary and Bosnia's top international official, the High Representative, should take place at the beginning of September. 

"The referendum question should be: do you support the anti-constitutional and unauthorised laws imposed by the High Representative of the international community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially the laws imposed related to the court and the prosecutor's office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the implementation of their decisions on Republika Srpska's territory?" Dodik told journalists in Banja Luka.

"Of course, we expect a big 'no'," he added. 

Dodik said he will request holding of a special session of the Republika Srpska National Assembly in order to reactivate its 2011 decision on holding of a referendum on a similar question.

Dodik launched the referendum idea after complaining that Bosnia's state-level judiciary has done nothing to push forward the case against the Bosniak wartime commander in Srebrenica, Naser Oric, who was extradited to Sarajevo last week.

Dodik and other Bosnian Serb politicians have complained that state persecution has been focusing too much on the war crimes committed by Bosnian Serbs and ignoring those committed by other ethnic groups.    

If held, the referendum would be seen as the first step in the break-up of Bosnia and Herzegovina and would deepen the country's political crisis.

However the entire opposition bloc in Republika Srpska, led by the Serb Democratic Party, opposes Dodik's idea. 

The idea was also criticised by the US embassy in Sarajevo, which noted that the state-level judiciary was part of the Dayton Peace...