SRPSKA NEEDS UNITY AND COLLEGIALITY

BANJA LUKA, AUGUST 2 /SRNA/ – The Academy of Sciences and Arts of Republika Srpska /ANURS/ has stated that the second-instance judgment against the President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, represents one of the strongest attacks on Srpska since the end of the civil conflict in BiH, and is calling for unity and collegiality in this highly sensitive moment.

"Only together can we defend and protect our institutions and our Republic. As before, ANURS, in cooperation with all relevant social, institutional, and political stakeholders, will give its full contribution to the protection and preservation of Srpska," the Academy emphasized in its statement. Condemning unlawful violence of the so-called judicial bodies of BiH against Republika Srpska and its institutions, ANURS stressed that the decision of the Appellate Division of the Court of BiH, which upheld the first-instance judgment against the President of Republika Srpska for a nonexistent criminal offense, is merely the latest in a series of increasingly harsh attacks on Republika Srpska and its constitutional and legal position guaranteed by the Dayton Peace Agreement and its Annex IV. The Academy noted that the entire legal process against the president of Republika Srpska constitutes a tragic and unprecedented example of the instrumentalization of the judiciary for political persecution of dissenters.