Several top officials in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) have criticized Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić for rejecting the court ruling against Milorad Dodik, warning Belgrade against interfering in the country’s internal affairs.
Vučić said Serbia does not recognize the verdict handed down to the president of Republika Srpska, the Serb-majority entity within BiH. Dodik was sentenced to one year in prison and barred from holding public office for six years over his refusal to implement decisions by the international high representative, Christian Schmidt.
BiH Presidency member Denis Bećirović responded by saying Vučić has no right to interfere in the internal matters of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Foreign Minister Elmedin Konaković went further, describing Serbia’s National Security Council’s rejection of the verdict as “one of the most serious and dangerous attacks on BiH sovereignty since the Dayton Accords.”
“This is unacceptable interference in BiH’s internal affairs and a direct undermining of its institutions,” Konaković said, adding it was “especially troubling” that Republika Srpska’s institutions were being equated with the individual actions of Dodik.
Bećirović said the court’s decision sent a clear message that no one is above the law. “This ruling creates an important legal barrier for those who believe the state can be dismantled without consequence,” he stated, emphasizing that legal verdicts from independent institutions are not open to political debate.
He added that peace and stability in BiH should never depend on a single individual, regardless of their political office, and warned against attempts to undermine the country’s constitutional order or international agreements.
Vučić had earlier described the ruling as “undemocratic” and “an attack on Republika Srpska and the Serb people as a whole.”
In response, Bećirović said Vučić’s stance constitutes “a flagrant violation of international and domestic law” and a deviation from European norms. He reminded Vučić that Serbia is a signatory—not a guarantor—of the Dayton Peace Agreement and urged him to respect Bosnia’s sovereignty.
Serbia’s Foreign Ministry condemned Bećirović’s comments, accusing him of “attempting to shift responsibility for BiH’s internal political crisis onto neighboring states, especially Serbia.” Foreign Minister Marko Đurić previously called Dodik’s trial a “politically motivated witch hunt.”
The ministry also said Serbia maintains the right, based on Dayton, to develop “special parallel relations” with Republika Srpska, and that challenging this is an attempt at political revisionism.
Dodik has rejected the verdict and announced plans to appeal to BiH’s Constitutional Court. He was convicted for enacting laws annulled by the high representative, aimed at blocking implementation of Constitutional Court rulings within Republika Srpska.