Patriarch Porfirije Condemns Verdict Against Milorad Dodik as Unconstitutional

OCP News Service – 28/02/2025

Belgrade-Serbia: His Holiness Patriarch Porfirije has strongly condemned the recent verdict of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina against Milorad Dodik, President of Republika Srpska, calling it unconstitutional and in violation of the Dayton Agreement. The Patriarch believes the ruling is an attempt to delegitimize the semi-autonomous entity and the democratic will of the Serbian people.

President Dodik was sentenced to one year in prison and banned from public office for six years after being found guilty of defying Christian Schmidt, the international High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Dayton Agreement, signed in 1995, ended the Bosnian War and established Bosnia and Herzegovina as a single state, comprising Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The High Representative was introduced as an international diplomatic oversight position.

Expressing concern over the ruling, Patriarch Porfirije stated:

“I received with deep concern the news about the decision of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, by which the legally elected president of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, was sentenced to one year in prison and a six-year ban from political activity, against any legal framework.

This verdict, undoubtedly unconstitutional and against the Dayton Agreement, has the potential to jeopardize everything that has been done over the past 30 years to heal war wounds and reconcile the peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is therefore extremely dangerous. Offering prayers to the Lord, the Giver of peace, to grant us in these difficult times the spirit of peace and the inspiration to build it mutually, I appeal to all actors in this unfortunate situation to give their best to stop and prevent the rise of tensions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which, God forbid, could disturb the stability of the Balkans and the wider region, and plunge the fragile and arduously built process of interethnic reconciliation into the abyss of some new, unnecessary and unwanted tragedy.”

Following the verdict, the Patriarch, along with several other hierarchs of the Serbian Orthodox Church, met with President Dodik and Republika Srpska officials in Banja Luka. Dodik outlined Republika Srpska’s planned response to what he described as “legal violence” against Serbian leadership since the 1995 Dayton Agreement. He reaffirmed the entity’s commitment to defending the agreement through legal and political means and expressed gratitude for the Church’s support in preserving Serbian identity.

In response, Patriarch Porfirije and the hierarchs issued a statement reiterating their view that the court’s decision undermines the democratic will of the people and seeks to delegitimize both Republika Srpska and the Serbian presence in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Source:

OCP News Services