Hungarian government claims Milorad Dodik victim of ‘witch hunt’

The president of Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Republika Sprksa, Milorad Dodik, is being subjected to a “witch hunt” in the form of a legal sentence “fabricated from abroad”, the parliamentary state secretary said in Banja Luka on Monday. Levente Magyar assured Dodik of Hungary’s support.

Is Milorad Dodik a victim of ‘witch hunt’?

Magyar also said Hungary supported the citizens of the Republika Sprska, “and the entire population of Bosnia and Herzegovina”. “The West is treating the country as a colony, increasingly so, in line with an outdated imperial approach that caused many tragedies in the past,” Magyar said.

“Besides the fact that the West is currently fuelling a terrible war in Ukraine, it isn’t shrinking from fomenting trends in the heart of the Balkans that could lead to further tragedies.” “The West is sending omnipotent governors to govern Bosnia-Herzegovina as if it were a colony rather than a sovereign country,” Magyar said.

Further, Magyar said the West was treating the country’s Serb community “expressly as an enemy, using steps to smear … President Dodik in a way that a proud people cannot and must not suffer.” Hungary and Serbia were in full support of the country, he added.

“The time has passed when Hungary watched and suffered those events in the Balkans passively,” he said, adding that Hungary implemented a Balkans policy that allowed the country to be an active player in the region and “provide a counterpoint to western efforts creating destabilisation”.

He said the destabilising factor was not Bosnian Serbs but rather “the heartless western colonial approach working on dismantling this country,” he said.

As part of its economic development programme, Hungary supports Bosnian farmers by “ensuring their access to modern, Hungarian-made equipment”. He said that as a result thousands of farmers had modernised their farms and become more competitive. The two countries are also operating a joint grant programme and plan to expand energy cooperation and “exploit the mineral and natural resources of Bosnia-Herzegovina together”, he said.

Dodik said the strategic cooperation with Hungary was the highest-level relations the Republika Sprska had, adding that it was important that “Hungarian politicians understand Republika Sprksa’s situation within Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that they are fighting to maintain the Dayton Peace Agreement.”

The Republika Sprska “is an indispensable factor, and talks must be led with it rather than about it, without prescribed solutions. Cooperation between Hungary and the Bosnian Serbs will continue and last through many projects,” he said.

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