GOGANOVIĆ: LEGAL ACTION POSSIBLE OVER RESTRICTIONS ON SERB RELIGIOUS HOLIDAY RIGHTS

ISTOČNO SARAJEVO, APRIL 8 /SRNA/ – Deputy Minister of Defense in the Council of Ministers Aleksandar Goganović told SRNA that members of the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces of Orthodox faith have been placed in a disadvantaged position, as their right to observe religious holidays is being contested, with insistence that their absence be recorded as a "religious need".

Goganović thanked His Grace Bishop Sergije of Bihać-Petrovac and Military Bishop, who, as he said, recognized the seriousness of the issue, stood in defense of Orthodox Serbs in joint institutions, and formally addressed the competent institutions on the matter. He stressed that such practice represents an infringement on the fundamental religious rights of Orthodox Serbs, reminding that he had previously pointed out this issue and taken legal steps, including an official letter to the Appeals Council and the Ministry of Justice within the Council of Ministers. Goganović announced that, after exhausting all legal remedies in the administrative procedure, he would initiate an administrative dispute. He confirmed that he has information that, due to this issue, several officials in joint institutions have already used legal remedies before the Civil Service Appeals Board of the Council of Ministers. According to him, as also defined by the head of the Office of Orthodox Pastoral Care in the Ministry of Defense, this issue threatens the very religious life of members of the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces of BiH, as it undermines rights guaranteed under the Republika Srpska Law on Holidays, which, he stressed, should be applied based on place of residence, in accordance with a decision of the Council of Ministers. He emphasized that in Republika Srpska, the Law on Holidays clearly guarantees the rights of all religious communities, while at the level of joint institutions, as well as in the Federation of BiH, these rights are not systematically regulated, which, he assessed, opens space for arbitrary interpretations and discrimination against Orthodox Serbs. Goganović announced that he would inform President Milorad Dodik and the Serb member of the BiH Presidency Željka Cvijanović about the matter. He reminded that the US administration of President Donald Trump also advocates for the protection of Christianity from the arbitrariness of the Islamic world, adding that what is happening in the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces of BiH is a clear example of the violation of the religious rights of Orthodox Christians employed in joint institutions. His Grace Bishop Sergije of Bihać-Petrovac said yesterday that he had informed officials at the BiH level that the religious rights and freedoms of Orthodox members in the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces of BiH are under threat. Bishop Sergije, who serves as military bishop, stated in a letter that this year the Minister of Defense in the Council of Ministers Zukan Helez disrupted the practice of signing decisions on religious services, which also regulate the recording of religious holidays for Christmas and Easter, thereby seriously denying basic religious rights of employees.