Bosnian Serb leader refuses to enter plea over defying peace envoy

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Bosnian Serb nationalist and pro-Russian leader Milorad Dodik refused on Monday to enter a plea on an indictment charging him with defying decisions by the High Representative, an international envoy who oversees peace in the country.

Dodik was indicted in August by state prosecutors in the capital Sarajevo, after signing laws that suspended rulings by Bosnia's constitutional court and by the peace envoy.

The indictment was confirmed by the state court.

Presiding judge Jasmina Cosic Dedovic said Dodik's refusal to enter a plea meant he pleaded not guilty. Under the law, the court must now continue with proceedings, legal experts said.

After the hearing, Dodik told reporters he could not understand the indictment.

"This court is unconstitutional and illegal," he said adding: "This is a politically motivated, trumped-up trial."

Bosnian Serbs reject jurisdiction of the central state court and prosecutors as it was set up by the peace envoy after the war, not by the Dayton treaty.

Under the peace deal, Bosnia was split into two autonomous regions, the Serb Republic and a Federation dominated by Croats and Bosniaks, linked via a weak central government - a blueprint that secured peace but left Bosnia dysfunctional as a state.

Dodik has acted to separate his Serb-dominated region from Bosnia over the past two years and repeatedly denounced his political opponents and Western ambassadors to Bosnia, where around 100,000 people died in the 1992-95 war.

Last week, Christian Schmidt, the international peace envoy to Bosnia, tasked with the civilian implementation of the Dayton accords, said Dodik's secessionist policies are a key challenge to the political settlement in the volatile Balkan country.

Schmidt amended Bosnia's criminal code in July to provide for prosecutions of those seen as attacking Bosnian state institutions.

Under the amendments, any official in Bosnia who fails to implement a decision of the international High Representative or obstructs it in any way can be jailed for up to five years.

Under provisions of the Dayton accord, the office of the international High Representative overseeing the implementation of the treaty was vested with powers to impose laws and sack officials seen as obstructing the peace.

(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Bernadette Baum)