SARAJEVO: The United States Treasury Department has removed four allies of former Bosnian Serb president Milorad Dodik from its sanctions list.
Dodik praised this decision as he campaigns to get his own United States sanctions lifted.
He has been sanctioned by the United States and Britain for obstructing the Dayton peace agreement that ended Bosnia’s war in the 1990s.
Several European countries have also sanctioned him, citing his separatist policies as a threat to Bosnia’s peace and stability.
A state court stripped him of his presidential mandate in August after sentencing him to a year in jail or a fine.
The court also banned him from political activity for six years for defying an international peace envoy’s orders.
Jelena Pajic Bastinac, Danijel Dragicevic, Goran Rakovic and Dijana Milankovic were sanctioned in January for organising illegal “Republika Srpska Day” celebrations.
Bosnian Serbs celebrated this day on January 9 despite a top court ban and warnings from Western peace overseers.
The United States Office of Foreign Assets Control did not provide a reason for removing the four individuals from the sanctions list.
Dodik, who has hired several United States lobbyists to help lift his sanctions, claimed the measures were politically motivated. – Reuters
