Bosnian officials on Thursday challenged a set of laws barring the state judiciary and police from operating in the country's Serb-controlled part, whose leader separately said he would ignore a summons from the central prosecutor who is investigating him for allegedly undermining the constitution.
The refusal risks plunging Bosnia-Herzegovina into greater uncertainty a week after Milorad Dodik, the pro-Russia president of the Serb-run entity called Republika Srpska (Serb Republic), was convicted for defying the envoy charged with overseeing its peace accords, triggering a fresh political crisis.
The complaint filed at the country's Constitutional Court jointly by Bosnian presidency member Denis Becirovic and two other officials argues that the laws passed a week ago by Bosnian Serb lawmakers violate Bosnia's constitution and a Dayton peace agreement that ended Bosnia's 1992-95 war.
Late Wednesday, Dodik signed the controversial laws that banned the country's central police and judiciary from the entity.
Later on Thursday, the European Union also said the laws "undermine the constitutional and legal order" of Bosnia, the functionality of its institutions and threaten the fundamental freedoms of its citizens. Republika Srpska (RS) must comply with Bosnia's laws and its constitution, the EU added in a statement.
"The EU urges the political leadership of the Republika Srpska entity to refrain from and to renounce provocative, divisive rhetoric and actions, including questioning the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of Bosnia-Herzegovina," said the statement.
Bosnian Serbs passed the disputed laws after a Bosnian court convicted Dodik. He was sentenced last month in absentia to a year in prison and a six-year ban from public office for his separatist moves.
Dodik, who is not in imminent danger of arrest, said he plans to ignore the verdict, which becomes official after an appeals process.
The Bosnian state prosecutor's office "has summoned me to give a statement tomorrow as a suspect for undermining the constitutional order," Dodik wrote on social media.
"I will not go to their political court, because Serbs no longer submit to inquisitions!" he added.
"Neither the Republika Srpska nor I are a threat to Bosnia-Herzegovina," Dodik said in a message to the "people of the RS, Serbs, Bosniaks (Muslims) and Croats."
Several Bosnian Muslim political leaders said the set of laws represents a "coup" and a major step in the disintegration of the country advocated by the Bosnian Serb separatist leader.
"Brutal attacks on the Dayton peace agreement and constitutional order... must be stopped," Becirovic said earlier.
On Thursday, Becirovic met with the head of the European Union delegation in Bosnia and ambassadors from the bloc to discuss the crisis.
Washington also voiced its deep concern over the developments in Republika Srpska.
"This is a calculated provocation of the constitutional order of Bosnia-Herzegovina and represents a direct threat to the (country's) stability and security... and the strategic goals of the U.S.," the U.S. embassy in Sarajevo said on social media platform X.
"The United States is resolute in advancing our interests in Bosnia and Herzegovina," the statement said. "For 30 years, our commitment to the Dayton Peace Agreement and a stable and secure Bosnia and Herzegovina has been unwavering."
Türkiye also called for parties to refrain from "unilateral rhetoric," and to resolve issues through dialogue.
"Unfortunately, we are seeing an increase in statements and decisions that risk the harmony and balance among the founding peoples of Bosnia-Herzegovina," Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told a joint news conference with his Croatian counterpart Gordan Grlic Radman in Ankara.
"We urge everyone to act with restraint. We need cooperation, consensus, and dialogue, not provocations."
Emphasizing Türkiye's "unwavering support" for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Fidan reaffirmed Ankara's readiness to do its part in this regard.
A separate statement from Fidan's ministry said Ankara followed developments "closely and with concern" and said preservation of peace and stability in Bosnia is possible "with common sense and restraint."
It called for parties to avoid unilateral actions and discourses that could damage the stability in the country and to seek solutions to problems through dialogue and consensus.
Analysts, meanwhile, warned that Dodik's actions risked unleashing more chaos in Bosnia.
"With these new laws that have been adopted, the situation seems even more dangerous," Veldin Kadic, a professor of political science in Sarajevo, told a local broadcaster.
Bosnia consists of two entities, one dominated by Bosnia's Serbs and the other run by the Bosniaks, who are mostly Muslim, and Croats.
The Dayton peace accords that ended Bosnia's war, which killed more than 100,000 people, also envisaged that the entities are bound by joint state institutions, including the army, top judiciary and tax administration.
Bosnia's rotating three-member presidency is made up of Bosniak, Serb and Croat members while an international envoy overseeing peace has the authority to change laws and impose decisions in Bosnia.
Dodik was convicted for disobeying the decisions of High Representative Christian Schmidt that sought to curb the Bosnian Serb pro-independence drive.
Dodik has repeatedly called for the separation of the Serb-run half of Bosnia to join with neighboring Serbia, which prompted the former U.S. administration to impose sanctions against him and his close allies. Dodik has had Russia’s backing for his policies.
On Thursday, after a meeting with Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic in Belgrade, Dodik accused the Bosniak officials in Sarajevo of seeking a conflict and wanting to abolish the Serb entity.
"We are not the ones who want war and conflict," insisted Dodik.
The introduction of new laws has spurred fears of incidents between rival Serb and central Bosnian police forces.
The war in Bosnia erupted when the country’s Serbs rebelled against independence from the former Yugoslavia and moved to form a mini-state of their own with the aim of uniting it with Serbia.
