Serb region bars Bosnian state authorities in separatist move

FILE PHOTO: President of Republika Srpska (Serb Republic) Milorad Dodik gestures as Bosnian Serbs protest against the resolution on the genocide in Srebrenica which is to be adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in early May, in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, April 18, 2024. REUTERS/Amel Emric/File Photo

SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Bosnia's autonomous Serb region passed legislation barring the state police and judiciary from its territory after a court sentenced its separatist leader Milorad Dodik to a year in jail and banned him from politics for six years.

The move undermines state institutions, touching off a constitutional crisis in ethnically polarised post-war Bosnia. Russia, Dodik's most powerful supporter, said the sentence was politically motivated and would destabilise the Balkans.