The United States has designated four top Bosnian Serb officials, including the Serb member of the country's presidency, for sanctions for undermining the Dayton accords that ended the Bosnian War in the 1990s.
Zeljka Cvijanovic, the Serbian member of the tripartite Bosnian Presidency, along with Republika Srpska politicians Nenad Stevandic, president of the National Assembly; Radovan Viskovic, prime minister; and Milos Bukejlovic, justice minister were added to the sanctions list over threats to the Dayton agreement and the integrity and sovereignty of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
"These leaders are directly responsible for encouraging the adoption of a law in the National Assembly of Republika Srpska declaring the decisions of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina inapplicable in the RS, thus obstructing and jeopardizing the implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement," the Treasury Department said in a statement on July 31.
SEE ALSO: Bosnian Serb Leader Files 'Criminal Complaint' Against International High RepresentativeThe National Assembly of Republika Srpska last month voted to suspend recognition of any decisions by Bosnia's multiethnic Constitutional Court and decided against publishing the decisions of the internationally appointed high representative of the Balkan nation, Christian Schmidt.
Both laws were suspended by Schmidt, but the authorities in Republika Srpska continued implementing them and reiterated that they would not respect Schmidt's decisions, which deepened the institutional crisis in Bosnia.
“This action threatens the stability, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the hard-won peace underpinned by the Dayton Peace Agreement," said Brian Nelson, undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, in the statement.
The Treasury Department said the process by which laws are passed and the Republika Srpska National Assembly's website make clear that the four individuals targeted "bear responsibility for requesting the June 27 special session of the [National Assembly] to hold the vote on this inflammatory legislation."
The assembly credits Viskovic, Stevandic, and Cvijanovic for requesting the special session, and Milos Bukejlovic presented the law to the assembly on behalf of the Republika Srpska government, Treasury said.
"Consequently, these four individuals bear responsibility for encouraging the adoption of this legislation that threatens the implementation of the [Dayton Peace Agreement]," the Treasury Department said.
Prime Minister Radovan Viskovic
The statement made clear that the institutions that the four politicians represent are not the target of the actions of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
But Nelson said the behavior "further threatens the country’s future trajectory and successful integration into Euro-Atlantic institutions,” and State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a separate statement that the law on Constitutional Court rulings threatens "the country’s prospects for integration into Euro-Atlantic and European institutions at the expense of the people of [Bosnia].”
Milorad Dodik, president of Republika Srpska and the main proponent of the law to make decisions of the Constitutional Court inapplicable in Republika Srpska, had been previously designated for sanctions by the United States.
Radovan Kovacevic, a spokesman for Dodik's ruling Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) party, said the U.S. sanctions were "shameless and hypocritical," adding that "no sanctions will prevent us from doing our job."
Stevandic said that he saw the sanctions as an "award for consistency" in the face of "blackmail and threats from those considered powerful."
The sanctions freeze any assets and rights to assets in U.S. jurisdiction held by the sanctioned individuals. They also bar U.S. citizens from any dealings with the people and entities.