The trial of Republika Srpska president Milorad Dodik gives an impression of a “circus show” and is going in Dodik's favour, according to Chairman of the Board of Directors at the Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina. He also spoke about the role of the international peace envoy in the country, noting that his office should have already closed down. Pročitaj više

Speaking in N1's Pressing show, Blagovcanin said that over the recent period Dodik showed the “signs of weaknesses,” which was mostly a result of elections. On the other hand, he added, there was a number of economic factors affecting his position, too.

“This whole show seems to be going in his favour,” he stressed.

Speaking about the presence and role of the Office of the High Representative (OHR), the international peace envoy who oversees the peace implementation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Blagovcanin said that this institution, established in 1995 after the end of the war, should have been closed down long ago.

“The Office of the High Representative should have been closed yesterday. But this is not only the stance of the Transparency International. This is also the stance of the Venice Commission, as well as the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe from 2004. Which crisis exactly has the High Representative solved in the past 15 years? None,” said Blagovcanin, adding that the OHR is a “part of the problem.”

“As the Venice Commission said, it is entirely incompatible for you to have an unelected authority almost 30 years after the end of the conflict,” he said.

After he recalled of some of the High Representative's decisions, such as amendments to the Criminal Code, Blagovcanin asked how come he did not use the special powers to resolve the issues concerning the Court or to remove some officials.

“I fear that the judiciary might become the biggest victim,” he stressed.

According to him, the judiciary is currently in the “state of the institutional concern.”

“There is no processing of political corruption and that is the best confirmation that the judiciary is under political influence,” he said.

Asked if he supports the idea of the OHR being shut down, Blagovcanin replied: “Absolutely yes.”

According to him, the OHR does not seem to have capacity at the moment and is dealing only with the Federation BiH, the Bosniak-Croat shared entity, in a “very brutal way.”

He deems that secession of a part of Bosnia and Herzegovina is not a likely option but also that the OHR is not capable of stopping it.

“Whatever we think of Dodik, he is a very rational player. He is escalating the situation in order to maintain status quo. Status quo is the interest of all political elites in BiH,” Blagovcanin underlined.