Bosnia prosecutor seeks detention of separatist Serb leaders amid mounting tensions

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — Bosnian prosecutors on Wednesday ordered the detention of three top Bosnian Serb officials over a series of separatist actions in recent weeks that have heightened tensions in the Balkan country.

The Bosnian Prosecutor’s Office issued the order after Bosnian Serb President Milorad Dodik, Prime Minister Radovan Viskovic and Parliament Speaker Nenad Stevandic failed to answer two summons for questioning.

The three are suspected of violating Bosnia’s constitutional order with their policies, Bosnian media reported.

Last month Bosnian Serb lawmakers passed a set of disputed laws that barred the central Bosnian state judiciary and police from operating in the Serb-controlled part of the country, called Republika Srpska.

The lawmakers passed the laws after a Bosnian court convicted Dodik of disobeying orders from the top international official in Bosnia. The court sentenced him to a year in prison and banned him from public office.

Dodik has repeatedly said he does not recognize the Bosnian prosecution office and will not go to Sarajevo for questioning. He dismissed the detention order at a press conference on Wednesday as “non-existent.”

“There is not a single blow or hardship that I would not take for Republika Srpska,” Dodik declared. He added that he will “carry out duties and travel but never leave Republika Srpska. If someone thinks we are cowards, they are wrong.”

Interior Minister Sinisa Karan said Bosnian Serb police will respect the new laws which barred the authority of Bosnia's prosecutor and other judicial institutions on the territory of Republika Srpska, roughly half of Bosnia.

Karan said that “no one will be arrested and all will be protected.”

The recent Bosnian Serb moves are seen as part of escalating efforts to break the territory away from Bosnia and have been condemned by the United States and the European Union. Dodik, who has faced U.S. and Bristish sanctions, is backed by Moscow.

The assembly of Republika Srpska on Wednesday debated a new draft constitution that would advance the separation process even further by establishing its own army and allowing the entity to join a union with neighboring countries.

It was not immediately clear what would happen next. Bosnia’s state security agency known as SIPA has confirmed they were asked to assist in the detention of the three officials.

In Banja Luka, the northwestern town that is the seat of the Bosnian Serb government, police could be seen deployed around the parliament building ahead of a session Wednesday.

The latest tensions have raised fears of violent incidents between Bosnia’s central security forces and the Serb police.

They also recall separatist aspirations that sparked Bosnia's war in 1992. The conflict ended three years later in a U.S.-sponsored peace accord that created two administrations — one Bosnian Serb, the other Bosniak-Croat — that are tied together by joint central institutions.

During a visit this week to Bosnia, NATO's Secretary General Mark Rutte pledged the Western military Alliance's support for Bosnia's integrity while a European peacekeeping force in Bosnia, EUFOR, stepped up the number of its troops.