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Milorad Dodik, the president of the Serb entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, formally requested the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina yesterday to replace his one-year prison sentence with a fine.
Dodik was sentenced in February to a year in prison and banned from holding office for six years. The Court of Appeals upheld his sentence this month.
The one-year prison sentence can be replaced with a fine under Bosnia's legal system. According to Bosnia's Criminal Code, a day in prison costs 50 euros. Dodik will pay about 18,000 euros for a year.
Although Dodik has repeatedly stated that he does not accept the court's decision, his request to convert the sentence to a fine shows that, in fact, he has accepted it.
Dodik was convicted of disrespecting the decisions of the High Representative of the international community in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
After his conviction was confirmed, on Wednesday the Central Election Commission stripped him of the mandate of the president of the Serbian entity, paving the way for early elections for the president of Republika Srpska.
Dodik, who has the support of Moscow, responded to the Central Commission by saying that he would hold a referendum in Republika Srpska on his mandate, even though the Bosnian Constitution does not provide for the possibility of holding referendums in the entities.
Meanwhile, on August 7 at 9:00 p.m., the UN Security Council will hold closed consultations on the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Panamanian Mission, which currently chairs the Council, told the Russian news agency RIA Novosti that Russia requested the meeting.
At the same time, the Russian Embassy has stated that for Bosnia and Herzegovina "the moment of truth has come", after which "a point of no return may come".
The statement published on August 7th states that "either Bosnia and Herzegovina will prove that it is truly a legal and democratic state, by rejecting the politicized verdict against President Dodik - which was imposed under Western pressure - or it will side with Moldova, Romania, France, Germany, Austria, the United States of America, essentially the entire collective West, where law enforcement agencies are hypocritically and arrogantly used to destroy political opponents."
Dodik is also declared non grata by the US, just like Sali Berisha. He has been blacklisted twice by the US for his activities against the Dayton Peace Agreement reached in 1995.
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