Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Srebrenica Memorial Center said it was closing for the first time ever because of security concerns amid rising tensions after a state court sentenced Milorad Dodik, the Serb Republic's president and a pro-Russian nationalist, to a year in prison and banned him from politics for six years.
In a statement posted on social media on March 7, the center -- which marks the site of genocide committed by ethnic Serb troops against Muslim Bosniaks in 1995 -- said that it had locked its doors "until further notice and in accordance with the current security situation."
The move comes after Bosnian officials challenged a set of laws barring the state judiciary and police from operating in Republika Srpska, the Serb-controlled part of the country. The contentious legislation has fueled tensions in the ethnically-divided Balkan country.
On February 27, the National Assembly of Republika Srpska voted on the laws a day after the State Court in Sarajevo delivered a non-final judgment sentencing Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik to one year in prison and banning him from politics for six years for defying the orders of an international peace envoy.
Dodik, who rejected the charges, was accused of failing to implement the decisions of the High Representative for Bosnia-Herzegovina, Christian Schmidt, in July 2023.
In response to the ruling, Dodik warned that he "would radicalize the situation" in the country.
SEE ALSO: Serbian Police Raids Target NGOs Supported By USAIDOn March 7, he went a step further, calling on ethnic Serbs to quit the federal police force and courts.
Dodik added afterward that he was not planning for a violent escalation of the situation, but he quickly noted that Republika Srpska had "the ability to defend itself, and we will do that."
On March 7, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stepped up pressure on Republika Srpska's leaders, saying in a social media post that "we call on our partners in the region to join us in pushing back against this dangerous and destabilizing behavior."
The system of government in Bosnia-Herzegovina is among the most complex in the world.
Since the Dayton peace agreement, which was signed in 1995 and ended the war in Bosnia, the country has consisted of the Bosniak-Croat Federation and the ethnic Serb-dominated Republika Srpska under a weak central government.
While Republika Srpska can pass laws on internal matters, state-level laws and institutions remain supreme according to the constitution.
The Office of the High Representative (OHR), a position held since 2021 by Schmidt, oversees the implementation of civilian aspects of Dayton.
Dodik is currently under US and U.K. sanctions for actions that Western governments say are aimed at the secession of Republika Srpska from Bosnia.
He has denied that the Serb entity of Bosnia has ever pursued a policy of secession, while at the same time pursuing legislation to wrest back powers for Republika Srpska at the expense of the state of Bosnia.