PERSONS UNKNOWN BROKE WINDOW GLASS OF CHAPEL AT THE KARAULA SERBIAN CEMETERY

KAKANJ, JUNE 7 /SRNA/ - An unknown person or group broke the glass on the window of the chapel at the Serbian Orthodox cemetery Karaula near Kakanj, priest Dragiša Cvjetković told SRNA.

The priest says the vandalism was noticed yesterday, but occurred within the last ten days. The Kakanj Police Station was informed and conducted an on-site investigation. Father Dragiša said that no one lives in that village, but that most chapels in those abandoned villages are in a similar condition, and that the municipality has always covered the cost of damages. He pointed out that such break-ins happen within a radius of about ten kilometers, and that the burglars usually take whatever is left after the faithful gather there once a year. The priest says he is responsible for the parishes of Golo Brdo, Busovača, Bilješevo, and Dobrinja, and that each year they hold around 35 cemetery prayers attended by around twenty faithful. He also mentioned that with financial support from people in the Diaspora, 15 cemeteries were cleared of weeds after the war, grave stones are being restored, 12 chapels have been renovated, and six new ones have been built on the foundations of devastated old ones. In the past few months, this is the fourth attack on a religious site in the parish. The Committee for the Protection of the Rights of Serbs in the Federation stated that previously, there was a break-in at the chapel on Krsti in Mošćanica, a stoning of the chapel in Plandište near Kakanj, and a break-in at the chapel in Viduša above Bilješevo. This chapel, as they emphasized, was devastated in the 1990s when the cemetery was partially desecrated; it was completely restored in 2019 thanks to the generous contributions of displaced parishioners from Australia, the Diaspora, and the homeland. Between 2017 and 2025, the chapel and cemetery at Karaula have been targeted by vandals four times. Both the Committee and the Church municipality hope that the perpetrators will be found and appropriately punished.