Overview

• An appeals court upheld Dodik’s one-year jail sentence and six-year political ban on August 1, triggering an automatic removal under Bosnian law for officials sentenced to over six months.
• Bosnia’s election commission formally revoked his mandate and will call an early Republika Srpska presidential election within 90 days of the appeal period’s expiry.
• Dodik denounced the verdict as a political trial orchestrated by the European Union and vowed to challenge his sentence at Bosnia’s Constitutional Court.
• He maintains strong support among Republika Srpska authorities and police forces, raising uncertainty over whether the removal will be enforced.
• Russia’s embassy condemned the ruling as a politicised Western move that jeopardises Bosnia and Herzegovina’s unity and urged local leaders to resist external dictates.