The Central Election Commission (CEC) of Bosnia and Herzegovina will forward to the Court of BiH on Friday, August 15, the appeal of Milorad Dodik's lawyers against the institution's decision to revoke his mandate as president of the Bosnian entity Republika Srpska. The commission's opinion will be sent along with the appeal.

According to the law, the Appellate Division of the Court of BiH must rule on the appeal within three days of receiving it. The court's decision will be final and will determine whether Milorad Dodik will remain in office or his mandate officially ends.

The CEC of BiH made the decision to revoke the mandate a few days after the Court of BiH announced in early August that Dodik had been finally sentenced to one year in prison and a six-year ban from holding public office in the country for failing to comply with the High Representative's decisions.

If the Appellate Division rejects the appeal, the CEC will have to schedule early elections for the president of the Republika Srpska, to be held within 90 days. The mandate of the newly elected president will last until the general elections scheduled for October next year.

In contrast to his defense, Dodik himself rejects both the verdict of the Court of BiH and the CEC decision, and has announced his intention to hold a referendum in Republika Srpska.

The appeal was filed with the CEC two days ago, but in order to forward it, the commission needed to receive an official document on the delivery of the decision to terminate the mandate in order to determine whether it was filed on time.

In the appeal, published by Radio Free Europe, Dodik's lawyers dispute the retroactive application of the termination of the mandate, since the date was set for June 12, and the decision was made on August 6. The participation in the vote of CEC member Vanja Belitsa Prutina is also disputed, as a civil case is being filed against Dodik on her defamation claim.

Dodik's legal team has also requested from the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (which Dodik does not recognize) a temporary measure to suspend the execution of the sentence until the final decision, emphasizing that this is a prerequisite for an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.

According to the final verdict, Dodik is convicted of signing the publication of laws that were previously repealed by the High Representative Christian Schmidt, for failure to implement decisions of the Constitutional Court and the Office of the High Representative on the territory of the RS.

Earlier, the defense requested that the punishment of "deprivation of liberty" be replaced with a fine, which is provided for in the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina. On August 12, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina announced that, after a statement from the prosecution, it had accepted the defense's proposal and replaced the prison sentence with a fine. One day of imprisonment is equal to 100 KM (50 euros), so in one year Dodik will pay about 36,500 KM (a little over 18,000 euros). | BGNES