LINTA: DESECRATION OF SERB GRAVESTONES NEAR KLADANJ MUST NOT GO UNPUNISHED

BELGRADE, OCTOBER 15 /SRNA/ – The desecration of gravestones at the Serb cemetery in the village of Vučinići near Kladanj is a scandalous, deeply shameful and disturbing act that must not go unpunished, said Miodrag Linta, the chair of the Association of Serbs from the Region.

Linta stressed that the destruction of gravestones was an attack on the dignity of deceased Serbs, the feelings of their descendants, and the human right to preserve the graves of their ancestors in peace. “What is particularly painful is the fact that the grasvestones targeted by Bosniak chauvinists belong to people who passed away long ago, whose descendants still cherish their memory and preserve their family roots,” Linta said. Cemeteries, he adds, are sacred places where the memory of loved ones, family history and ties to one's homeland are preserved that must be places of peace, respect and reverence, not targets of hatred and senseless vandalism, the Association of Serbs from the Region announced. Linta called for bringing those responsible to justice and stressed the importance of sending a clear message to the public that desecrating graves and destroying gravestones must not go unpunished, regardless of who the perpetrators are or which ethnic group the victims belong to. “The relevant institutions must demonstrate readiness to protect the dignity of every person, every family's right to visit the graves of their loved ones, and the right of the Serb people to preserve their cemeteries, monuments and traces of their centuries-long presence in these areas,” Linta said. According to the 1991 census, at least 4,100 Serbs, or 26 per cent of the population, lived in the municipality of Kladanj. By the 2013 census, their number had fallen to just 107, or 0.9 per cent.