FIRST-INSTANCE RULING HAS NOT BEEN DELIVERED

SARAJEVO, MARCH 25 /SRNA/ - Goran Bubić, the attorney for Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik, told SRNA that the first-instance ruling issued to his client by the unconstitutional Court of BiH has not yet been delivered.

"There is no first-instance verdict in the mail received this morning," Bubić said, following the earlier announcement by the unconstitutional Court of BiH that the verdict had been sent out yesterday.

On February 26, the unconstitutional Court of BiH sentenced the President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik in the first instance for "non-compliance with the decisions" of Christian Schmidt. The court sentenced him to one year in prison and barred him from holding the office of president of the Republic for six years from the date the verdict becomes final.

The ruling acquits Miloš Lukić, the acting director of the Official Gazette of Republika Srpska, who was tried in the same case.

Bubić has said that any potential appeal of the verdict will be considered after the first-instance ruling is delivered.