Branko Perić, judge, writer and publicist, is known as a man who critically reflects on processes and events and expresses his views in public without a hair on his tongue. From 1996, he held the position of editor in several news agencies, was the first president of the independent Association of Journalists of the Republika Srpska, and became the vice president of the Council of the Regulatory Agency for Communication of Bosnia and Herzegovina. After 2003, he was a judge of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and since 2004, the president of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of BiH (VTSV).
He says for "Vreme": "By boycotting state institutions, Dodik destroyed the post-Dayton structure of Bosnia and Herzegovina." He explains it by going back to the constitutional structure of the Dayton Agreement, but that is not a good argument. For 25 years, the Dayton structure was shaped in practice, partly by the agreed transfer of competences (army, taxes, judiciary), and partly by the imposition of laws by the high representative. In the configuration of the new structure, ruling politicians actively participated by appointing their staff to the new state institutions.
Now Dodik is announcing the overthrow of the de facto order and is taking concrete steps. The Assembly of the RS has already passed the law on the Medicines Agency, and the adoption of the Law on the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HCPC) of the RS has been announced. If the Law on HJSC is adopted, one state institution (HJSC BiH) will be demolished. It could be interpreted as crossing the red line and entering the criminal zone.
Dodik does this for several reasons. First, he wants to show that Dayton Bosnia and Herzegovina is not possible. Second, he created a crisis in order to gain a negotiating advantage and gain something in the negotiations. He estimated that he could get back into the jurisdiction of the judiciary and thus definitely ensure his impunity. I think that this is the goal of all policies in BiH and that Dodik could succeed in this intention."
Read on full interview with Branko Perić in the weekly "Vreme" from Thursday (April 21)
Subscribe to the digital edition
Read daily news, analysis, commentary and interviews at www.vreme.com
