In Bosnia-Herzegovina, President of Srpska Republika Milorad Dodik has been sentenced in absentia to one year imprisonment, and barred from holding public office for six years, by the high court of Bosnia-Herzegovina. This was due to Dodik defying the high representative in the country tasked with overseeing the implementation of the Dayton agreements from 1995, which ended the Bosnian war. Mr Dodik is seen as a close ally of Serbia and Russia, and has stepped up his efforts for the secession of Republika Srpska from Bosnia-Herzegovina.