Referendums in Republika Srpska

BANJALUKA - According to unofficial final results, 99.81 pct of voters in the Republika Srpska (RS) referendum voted in favour of keeping January 9 as the Republika Srpska Day, the commission in charge of conducting the referendum announced Monday.

It said 1,291 citizens had voted against.

BRUSSELS - The referendum in Republika Srpska (RS) has no legal basis, the European Commission said Monday.

From the formal and legal point of view, "it is completely pointless for the Prosecution of Bosnia to summon only RS President Milorad Dodik for questioning."

This is according to Sinisa Karan, president of a commission the Serb entity, RS, set up to organize the RS Day referendum.

Just ahead of local elections due in Bosnia this Sunday, a poll shows that the country's main Bosniak [Muslim] party, the Party of Democratic Action, SDA, has retained its dominance in the country's largest entity, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Dodik said on Tuesday that he does not feel safe enough to go to Sarajevo to answer calls to attend a prosecution hearing after Republika Srpska held a controversial referendum in defiance of a ban by the state Constitutional Court.

RS President Milorad Dodik said on Tuesday afternoon that was yet to receive the Bosnian prosecution's announced summons for questioning.

Dodik declared himself unafraid of arrest on Monday evening after Bosnia's state prosecution called him to appear at a hearing in connection with Sunday's banned referendum in the Serb-led entity.

The Republika Srpska leader told N1 TV that the state could not arrest the leader of a people.

Sunday's referendum in the RS "threatens to strengthen the confrontation between the international community and RS President Milorad Dodik."

The United States on Monday condemned "the illegal referendum" held on Sunday in the Serb Republic (RS), the Serb entity in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

SARAJEVO - Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik has been summoned for questioning as a suspect over the holding of Sunday's Republika Srpska Day referendum, the Fena news agency reported Monday.

The Prosecutor's Office confirmed to Fena Dodik had been summoned to testify in a case of non-execution of a decision of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.