On Wednesday, Bosnian state prosecutors ordered the arrest of Serb separatist leader Milorad Dodik and two of his aides for what it has called an attack on the constitutional order.
The decision came after Dodik, along with Parliament Speaker Nenad Stevandic and Prime Minister Radovan Viskovic, failed to answer two summons for questioning.
This follows a separate case in which Dodik, the president of Bosnia’s Serbian-majority entity, Republika Srpska (RS), was sentenced to a year in jail and banned from public office for defying the rulings by the international envoy to Bosnia tasked with overseeing the peace accords that ended Bosnia’s war in the 1990s.
Dodik is being investigated by lawmakers for initiating laws barring the state judiciary and police from the region following his sentencing.
The prosecutors’ office asked for Dodik’s arrest for failing to respond to a court summons, however it was unclear whether it intended to detain him and his allies or just accompany them to court.
Russian-backed Dodik has repeatedly stated he does not recognize the Bosnian prosecution office and would not go to Sarajevo for questioning.
“This is a null and void business” Dodik said at a press conference in Banja Luka, “this is politically motivated and we don’t want to take part in it”, he added.
Separately on Wednesday, the RS assembly debated a new draft constitution that would advance the separation process by creating an army and allowing the entity to join a union with neighbouring countries.
The United States and the European Union have been critical of Dodik as his moves are seen as part of escalating efforts to break the RS territory away from Bosnia and Herzegovina.