Requests by Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik’s defence for the exemption of Prosecutors representing the indictment against him before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina were rejected, allowing the trial to continue next week, Dodik's lawyer Goran Bubic confirmed on Friday.

Bubic asked for the exemption of all four prosecutors determined by the BiH Prosecutor's Office, during the last hearing held on December 20 last year, claiming that they are biased.

The lawyer said that he was informed by the BiH Prosecutor's Office that those objections were rejected.

The continuation of Dodik's trial is scheduled for January 17.

The trial has not formally started yet because the two previous hearings were interrupted for procedural reasons.

The incumbent Republika Srpska President was charged by the BiH Prosecutor's Office with the criminal offence of failure to implement the decisions of the High Representative for BiH.

The indictment against him and the director of the RS Official Gazette, Milos Lukic, was brought because they enabled the publication of two laws that were adopted by the RS Parliament in that press, which the High Representative Christian Schmidt subsequently annulled.

If convicted, Dodik and Lukic face a sentence of six months to five years in prison. A conviction for Dodik would mean an automatic dismissal from the position of RS President, and Lukic would be dismissed from the position of director of the entity's Official Gazette.