American Marconi Wireless News - Bosnia issues international arrest warrant for Serb leader Dodik

Dodik, who for years has led a campaign chipping away at the Balkan country's weak central institutions, denounced the warrant as an "abuse of the justice system for political ends" while on a visit to Israel.

A similar arrest warrant was issued for the speaker of the Serb entity Republika Srpska's (RS) assembly, Nenad Stevandic, who returned to Bosnia and Herzegovina on March 18 after a visit to Serbia.

Since the end of the 1992-1995 war, Bosnia has been split into two semi-autonomous halves -- the Republika Srpska and a Muslim-Croat federation. Both have their own governments and parliaments and share weak central institutions.

The prosecutor's office said warrants were issued for Dodik and Stevandic for "using their high-ranking positions in the Republika Srpska entity" to go abroad "while evading legally prescribed border control procedures".

After travelling to Israel on Tuesday to attend an international conference on combating anti-Semitism attended by European far-right figures, Dodik said he was "relaxed" about the warrant.

"Nothing surprising. The abuse of the justice system for political ends continues," he said from Jerusalem on Wednesday, alleging that the purpose of the warrant was "to isolate me".

Without giving details on his coming schedule, Dodik hinted that he had "some very important activities" planned in the coming days.

The RS leader, who is an ally of the Kremlin, had postponed a trip to Moscow last week.

"We will do all that and return to the RS in a calm manner next week," Dodik said.

- 'Grounds for action' -

Dodik has threatened to secede the Serb entity from Bosnia and barred central police and judicial officials from working there -- an order that was suspended by the constitutional court.

Dodik, Stevandic and RS Prime Minister Radovan Viskovic are accused of attacking the constitutional order, and an arrest warrant was issued within Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Dodik and Stevandic then defied this by travelling abroad.

"All of this suggests that both individuals could be abroad at any given moment, which provides grounds for action," the State Court said in a statement, adding that it had issued an international arrest order and the matter was now in Interpol's hands.

Stevandic was seen in the Serbian capital Belgrade on March 15.

Tensions have soared in Bosnia since Dodik was sentenced last month to a year in prison and handed a six-year ban from public office for defying Christian Schmidt, the international envoy charged with overseeing the peace deal that ended Bosnia's inter-ethnic war in the 1990s.

Bosnia's divided politics and fragile post-war institutions have faced increasing uncertainty amid the unfolding political crisis.

D.Cunningha--AMWN