DODIK: THEY TRIED ME BECAUSE THEY COULDN'T PUT ALL SERBS IN COURT ROOM

BANJA LUKA, AUGUST 6 /SRNA/ - President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik said that he was tried in Sarajevo because they could not put all the Serbs in the courtroom and pointed out that everything was a farce in order to reach a guilty verdict.

"I get messages from many who were against my actions, stating that this went beyond all red lines. They had many members of the criminal code to persecute me and they tried for 20 years to convict me and they failed. That's why they brought /Christian/ Schmidt. In the process we watched, we saw only Muslim judges and prosecutors in both proceedings. It was all a farce to get to what they think they can do. They tried me because they couldn't put all the Serb people in the courtroom," president Dodik told the journalists in Banja Luka, after the meeting of the leaders of the parties that make up the coalition in Republika Srpska.

He stated that with this process, he received the best and the strongest proof that he works for Republika Srpska and the Serb people.

"They thought they could break the will of the Serb people... This is a modified way of the crimes they commit against the Serbs," said Dodik.

He pointed out that he believes that the Serb people know and understand that he was judged only because he was the President of Republika Srpska.

"I was not a poltroon and I was not ready to sacrifice Serb interests. There are individuals who hate me more than they love Republika Srpska. There are no such persons among the people, and that is why I decided to ask the people," said Dodik.

The Central Election Commission /CEC/ of BiH made a decision today to terminate the mandate of the President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik, who was elected in the general elections in 2022. An appeal against it is allowed.

CEC made a decision to terminate the mandate after the Appellate Division of the Court of BiH upheld an earlier first-instance verdict in which the President of the Republika Srpska was sentenced to one year in prison and six years of political activity ban "for disobeying the decisions of Christian Schmidt".