JOVIĆ: FBiH MUST SEVERELY PUNISH THOSE DESTROYING SERB PROPERTY

BANJA LUKA, NOVEMBER 6 /SRNA/ – Slađan Jović, acting director of the Republika Srpska Secretariat for Displaced Persons and Migration, called on the relevant institutions of the Federation of BiH /FBiH/ to respond urgently and impose the harshest punishment on those who had destroyed Serb property. He warned that such incidents could spread and eventually escalate unless the Federation's institutions took concrete action.

Jović said that after a shelter was torn down at Gradina near Banovići last week, another was destroyed yesterday in the village of Borovci, in the same municipality, the Secretariat said. He noted that the shelter had been built by Serbs who lived there until the last war, and that they used it to gather when visiting the cemetery and holding memorial services. Jović strongly condemned the attacks. He said he feared such incidents would spread further and eventually escalate unless the Federation's institutions took concrete action and the perpetrators were punished. "Those who attack holy sites and everything around them are attacking an entire people. It is truly devastating that so many years after the war ended, such incidents are still happening, and that every possible means is being used to drive Serbs out of the Federation, where they were born, lived and worked," Jović said. He said that instead of intimidation and constant attacks in such sensitive areas, the focus should be on promoting tolerance and coexistence. The cantonal Interior Ministry's Police Administration told SRNA today that officers from the Banovići police station were investigating the damage to the shelter in Aljkovići-Borovci in the municipality.