(25 Feb 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina – 25 February 2025
1. Wide of OHR (Office of the High Representative) building
2. Close of OHR building
3. Close of OHR and Bosnia flags
4. High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina Christian Schmidt arriving for press conference
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Christian Schmidt, High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina:
++SOUNDBITE INCLUDES AUDIO TRANSLATION++
"Be assured, the international community remains vigilant. The Dayton (peace accord) order and state institutions remain protected and have to be respected. The international community remains firmly committed to peace and stability in this region. Bosnia and Herzegovina is not negotiable. Bosnia Herzegovina will continue to move forward on its European path."
6. Windows on OHR building
7. Schmidt leaving press conference
8. Wide of OHR building
9. Various of diplomats leaving OHR building
STORYLINE:
Bosnia’s peace envoy on Tuesday reassured the international community of stability ahead of the verdict for Separatist Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik.
"The international community remains firmly committed to peace and stability in this region," High Representative Christian Schmidt told reporters in Sarajevo.
Milorad Dodik, the president of a Serb-dominated part of Bosnia, was charged with unconstitutional activities and defying laws imposed by Schmidt, who oversees the implementation of Dayton peace agreement which ended the bloody Bosnian war.
Peace in Bosnia was established after nearly four years of conflict in the 1990s, when the US brokered an agreement in Dayton, Ohio, which led to the end of hostilities.
At a press conference outside the Office of the High Representative building, Schmidt said the "international community remains vigilant."
"Bosnia Herzegovina will continue to move forward on its European path," he added.
Dodik has been on trial since February 2024. Prosecution asked the the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina to impose a 5-year jail penalty and 10 year ban of all political activities.
Dodik rejected the charges and sought to present them as an attack on the Serbs in Bosnia. The pro-Russian nationalist was sanctioned by the United States and Britain for obstructing the terms of the peace deal.
The ruling, expected Wednesday, could have profound implications as it could redefine the balance of power within Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Dodik already announced that some sort of retaliation by his supporters will occur in the case he is found guilty. It’s reported he’s organizing mass rallies in Banja Luka, on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Ethnic Serbs control the Republika Srpska – a highly-autonomous entity which makes up around half the country of some 3.2 million people. The other half is run by Bosnia’s Bosniaks, who are mainly Muslim, and Croats.
The two parts are connected by a central government, under supervision of an international high representative.
Bosnia’s two ministates were established in a 1995 peace deal that ended ethnic carnage in which more than 100,000 people died and millions were displaced. A shaky peace has persisted since then, but ethnic divisions remain deep as tensions recently escalated.
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