VUČIĆ: DODIK IS WELCOME IN SERBIA

BELGRADE, AUGUST 2 /SRNA/ – President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić stated that President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik is welcome in Serbia and that no one will arrest the legal and legitimate president of Srpska, even if BiH issues a warrant for his arrest.

"All relevant state authorities are obliged to respect the decision of the National Security Council. Milorad Dodik is welcome in the Republic of Serbia, he is the President of Republika Srpska, elected legally and legitimately," Vučić said at a press conference following a session of Serbia's National Security Council.

Vučić has jokingly remarked that he's a bit jealous of Dodik because "some people are now turning him into a hero."

The President of Serbia called on the residents to attend the commemoration in Sremski Karlovci tomorrow, marking 30 years since the persecution of Serbs during the criminal operation ‘Storm’, noting that Milorad Dodik will also attend the event.

He added that while the situation for Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija is extremely difficult, the greatest concern now lies in BiH, where "some people believe they have the right to make whatever decisions they want, assuming it's all normal."

"It’s been more than 10 years since I was nearly killed in Srebrenica; no court has issued any ruling on that. But because of a few spoken words, the president of Republika Srpska has to go to prison – he didn’t beat anyone or lynch, he just expressed his opinion and is now sentenced to a year in prison," Vučić stated.

He stressed that the Court of BiH banning an elected leader of the Serb people in Republika Srpska for six years from political activity is political perversion, saying that the real message of the judgment is to humiliate the Serb people.

"There is no greater scandal anywhere in the world – that a democratically elected representative of a people is banned from representing them because of words spoken, while no one is held responsible for an attack on a foreign statesman," Vučić concluded.