DODIK IS PRESIDENT OF SNSD, BANS UNACCEPTABLE

BANJA LUKA, OCTOBER 21 /SRNA/ - Milorad Dodik is the president of SNSD as long as he is registered in the court register, said lawyer Miljkan Pucar, pointing out that the inadmissible opinion of the Court of BiH was sent to the Central Election Commission /CEC/ because it "enters politics from law".

"I consider unacceptable to take that kind of opinion, despite the verdict and the Law on Criminal Procedure of BiH," Pucar told journalists in Banja Luka, commenting on the opinion of the Court of BiH which states that, according to the legal consequences of the previous verdict that Dodik cannot be the leader of the political party. He stated that he is surprised by the Court's note addressed to the CEC, because what was stated in the explanatory was not true. "The final judgment clearly states that Dodik cannot perform any political function or in any legal entity that is financed from public funds, i.e. from the budget. Because we all know very well that political parties are not financed from the budget. It used to be like that, but not any more," Pucar said. He clarified that if there is no funding from public funds, budget or public funds in the majority of an enterprise or organization, then no one can be prohibited from holding that position. "Similarly, does this mean that Dodik cannot be the director of a private company that is also a legal entity, as well as a political party? So, I believe he can, because these entities are not financed from public funds," Pucar said. He pointed out that Dodik is the president of the SNSD political party as long as he is registered in the court register. "What the CEC will do, how it will act and what will happen next, I cannot predict. The behavior of the CEC is very clear, it was checked whether Dodik can be the president of SNSD, an appeal was filed... The Court of BiH has taken a very clear opinion that he can be the president of that party, and I think that this is where law is going into politics," he said. The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina sent a letter to the CEC in which it once again clarified the legal consequences of the verdict against Milorad Dodik in the case against him for disobeying the decisions of the High Representative, and stated that, according to the legal consequences of the conviction, he cannot be the president of the SNSD. Dodik was previously sentenced to one year in prison and, as a security measure, banned from performing the duties of the President of the Republika Srpska for six years, from the day the verdict became final. The CEC of BiH refused to revoke Milorad Dodik's mandate of the president of the party SNSD Milorad Dodik.