SARAJEVO: A court in Bosnia on Wednesday sentenced pro-Russian Bosnian Serb President Milorad Dodik to one year in prison and banned him from engaging in politics for six years because of his separatist actions.
The landmark ruling by the court in Sarajevo came after a yearlong trial against Dodik on charges that he disobeyed the top international envoy overseeing peace in the Balkan country.
The leader and his lawyers were not in the court during the sentencing. Dodik has said that he would disobey any conviction and threatened "radical measures" in response, including eventual secession of the Serb-run entity in Bosnia called Republika Srpska from the rest of the country.
Dodik's separatist threat stoked fears in Bosnia, where ethnic carnage from 1992-95 left 100,000 people killed and displaced millions. The U.S.- sponsored Dayton Accords ended the war nearly three decades ago.