ĐURĐEVIĆ-STAMENKOVSKI: JUDGMENT AGAINST SRPSKA PRESIDENT UNCIVILIZED

SREMSKI KARLOVCI, AUGUST 3 /SRNA/ – The Minister of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Policy, Milica Đurđević - Stamenkovski, stated that the BiH Court’s judgment against the President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, is political and uncivilized.

“This is a judgment against the Dayton Peace Agreement, against Republika Srpska, and only lastly against its leader,” Đurđević-Stamenkovski told SRNA. To deny someone in the 21st century the right to express political views, to have their own opinion and stance, simply because they dislike President Dodik’s decision to preserve Srpska’s political autonomy, is - according to Đurđević-Stamenkovski - an uncivilized act and should be condemned by all. “I believe Serbia has acted responsibly and has sent a message about protecting Republika Srpska, respecting the provisions of the Dayton Peace Agreement, whose guarantor it is and therefore has the moral right to care for its people in Srpska,” Đurđević-Stamenkovski said. She pointed out that the undermining of Republika Srpska’s institutions is an attempt to deny the Serb people the right to exist in those areas. “That existence has been paid for dearly. It was paid with the highest possible price - lives. That is why we preserve Republika Srpska, which is the message we want to send today. What happened to our people i Krajina in 1995 must not happen again to Serbs wherever they live, especially not to the Serbs in Republika Srpska,” Đurđević-Stamenkovski emphasized. She stressed that such persecution must never again be something the Serb people has to endure, even though they have survived it many times. The Appellate Panel of the Court of BiH upheld the first-instance verdict sentencing Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik to one year in prison and banning him from political activity for six years for non-compliance with the decisions of Christian Schmidt.