"The persons who were relieved of their duties have the right to appeal," Cavic said at a press conference in Banja Luka, adding that Bosnia-Herzegovina "is unable to protect the fundamental rights of its citizens which were violated by the High Representative and by SFOR, which arrests citizens of Republika Srpska and Bosnia-Herzegovina without court warrants, lawyers or investigation."
Cavic pointed out that such actions were in violation of the Convention on Human Rights and Freedoms, which Bosnia-Herzegovina signed in 2002.
Asked to comment on Tuesday morning's renewed arrest of the former head of the municipality of Serb Sarajevo, Milovan Bjelica, Cavic said that he was "unpleasantly surprised" and that today such arrests could only happen in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"Today it is better to be in detention in The Hague than be a citizen of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The people indicted by the Hague tribunal have the right to a lawyer and to appeal, while we in Bosnia-Herzegovina, who are potential targets of arrest on the basis of tip-offs by certain spies, are denied that right," Cavic said.