There is no problem regarding the security of newly elected Bosnian Serb Presidency member, Milorad Dodik, who refuses to have the state police guarding him while he serves his new office, the Interior Minister of Bosnia’s Serb-dominated part, Dragan Lukac, said on Thursday.
Until he was inaugurated to the tripartite state Presidency on Tuesday, Dodik was the President of Bosnia’s Serb-dominated semi-autonomous entity, Republika Srpska (RS).
A day after he took over the new position, he said he distrusts state-level institutions and that he does not want state bodies guarding him.
That evening, Security Minister Dragan Mektic told N1 in an interview that this represents a “big problem,” as the law states that the Directorate for Coordination of Police Bodies is responsible for the security of state officials.
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“Security does not make sense if, in case you need to utilise some of your competencies, you do not have them. I have no idea how they plan to solve this,” Mektic said.
However, Lukac, who is a member of Dodik’s party and the RS Interior Minister, said there was no problem with Dodik’s request.
“The Law on the Directorate allows for people who were guarding former President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, who has now become the Serb member of the Presidency, to continue doing so,” Lukac told reporters.
“He (Dodik) is asking for people who he knows he can trust to accompany him, and those are members of the RS Interior Ministry,” he said.
The officers who were guarding Dodik before could become members of the Directorate, and according to Law, the body can also ask for help from other police agencies in Bosnia for specific jobs, Lukac stressed.
“That could be the second option. I don’t see any problem, and this issue will be solved in any case,” Lukac said.
