STEVANDIĆ: PUPPINCK READY TO HELP AS CHURCH LAND FACES SEIZURE ATTEMPTS

STRASBOURG, APRIL 27 /SRNA/ – The Speaker of the National Assembly of Republika Srpska Nenad Stevandić met today with Gregor Puppinck, director of the European Centre for Law and Justice, for whom he said is ready to provide assistance before the European Court of Human Rights and other European institutions amid attempts to seize land from the Serbian Orthodox Church.

During the meeting in Strasbourg, Stevandić also thanked Puppinck for his previous work, noting that he had done a great deal to protect the legal status and property of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro. He emphasized that Republika Srpska is committed to safeguarding its traditional democratic and family values. The Speaker of the National Assembly told SRNA that further cooperation and support before European legal institutions had been agreed, not only before the European Court of Human Rights, but also within individual countries. Stevandić stressed that Republika Srpska seeks to protect its way of life and traditions and to defend itself against undemocratic decisions and what he described as a "sultan-like" mode of governance in BiH, particularly actions taken by Christian Schmidt. "A sovereigntist politics based on European traditional values, where Christian heritage represents one of the foundations for humanism and civilization in the future - this is what has brought us together and made us future partners", Stevandić said. The meeting was also attended by the Speaker's adviser for international law, Dragan Dakić.