BiH MUSLIM LEADERS TO SAY WHETHER ANYONE HAS BEEN PUNISHED FOR DESECRATING SERBIAN GRAVES

SARAJEVO, OCTOBER 22 /SRNA/ – The Committee for the Protection of Serb Rights in the Federation of BiH has asked the BiH Muslim leaders, who signed a March 18 statement, whether anyone has been held accountable for the destruction or desecration of Serbian graves, crosses and monuments.

The committee reminded that the BiH Muslim leaders signed a statement in Sarajevo on March 18 saying that their army had protected and preserved the cultural and religious heritage of other peoples and that they supported respect for other faiths. Following the statement, the committee said, it published photographs and video footage of damaged Serbian Orthodox churches, chapels, parish houses and cemeteries, challenging the claims made in the signed document. "Has anyone ever been held accountable for destroying Serb crosses in Serb cemeteries? Has anyone been convicted, fined or sent to prison for such acts?" the committee asked. The committee claimed that numerous cases of damage to Serb cemeteries and religious buildings, broken church windows, break-ins at chapels, and attacks on Serbs and visitors from Serbia had been recorded since the end of the war in 1995. It noted that after such incidents, authorities generally announce that an "investigation is ongoing" and condemn the "attacks," but that visible results in the form of arrests, convictions and penalties are lacking. "Every time, they say that an 'investigation is ongoing,' that the 'incident is condemned' and that the 'problem will be resolved,' but the question remains whether anyone has actually faced consequences," the committee said. As an example, it cited the Lemezi cemetery in Sarajevo, claiming that reports had previously said a person suspected of desecrating the cemetery four times had been arrested, before authorities announced that the individual had been referred for psychiatric observation. The Committee for the Protection of Serb Rights in the Federation of BiH called for concrete information to be made public on the prosecution and punishment of those responsible for attacks on Serbian Orthodox cemeteries and religious buildings.