ONLY SERB RETURNEE FAMILY UNDER PRESSURE FROM MUNICIPAL AUTHORITIES

RASTOŠNICA, December 19 /SRNA/ - The household of sister and brother Ljiljana and Milan Kovačević, the only Serb returnees to the village of Rastošnica in the Federation of BiH /FBiH/, is under strong pressure from the municipal authorities in Teočak, which are demanding the demolition of their auxiliary facilities built in 1985.

"They will not leave us alone to spend our old age on our ancestral property. We do not bother anyone, we harm no one, we live on our own land, but unfortunately even that is not enough, so they constantly invent reasons to force us out under pressure," Ljiljana Kovačević told SRNA. She added that Bosniaks have fabricated a problem, claiming that their household, i.e. the auxiliary facilities, were built on a road and obstruct access to Lake Sniježnica, where Bosniaks have illegally built weekend houses along the shoreline. Kovačević said that the family house, as well as the auxiliary facilities, were built by her father Jakov Kovačević in 1985, in accordance with a construction permit issued by the then Municipality of Zvornik. She stressed that the house and the facilities have stood in the same place for a full 40 years and added that the Kovačević family lived peacefully and responsibly on their property from 1985, except during the period of wartime displacement, after which they returned to their home. "The first attempt at demolition occurred in 2004, when the Municipality of Teočak issued a decision ordering the demolition of the auxiliary facilities, claiming they were allegedly built on a local road," Ljiljana said. She stated that the Municipality of Teočak concealed key facts in the demolition decision, namely that the road in question was a former village road that ceased to be in use as early as 1985 and was submerged by the construction of the Sniježnica reservoir. Kovačević explained that only a short, impassable section of the road now exists, ending in the lake in a ravine more than 20 metres deep, that the road no longer serves a public purpose and has for decades been maintained and used exclusively by her, her brother Milan and one other returnee family that stays there occasionally. "Following an appeal, the Federal Administration for Geodetic and Property-Legal Affairs annulled the Municipality of Teočak's demolition decision in 2005 and returned the case for renewed proceedings in order to establish the actual facts," Kovačević said, stressing that the Municipality of Teočak never resumed the procedure, although it was legally obliged to do so, thereby effectively suspending the proceedings. Pointing out that "the devil never rests," nor do certain individuals in Teočak, Kovačević said that after 20 years of complete legal certainty, the municipality this year issued a new demolition decision, despite the absence of any new facts or evidence, as it concerns the same legal matter, thus grossly violating the principle of legal certainty and applying laws adopted decades after the construction of the house retroactively. Speaking about the selective application of the law to the detriment of the Kovačević family, she said that at the same time, illegal construction has for years been taking place in the water protection zone of Lake Sniježnica, with dozens, if not hundreds, of such structures. "Not a single one of those structures has been demolished, even though they were built during the period of valid legal prohibitions. On the contrary, they have been connected to the electricity grid from my house, while the usurpation of public property is obviously tacitly tolerated," Kovačević noted. She is also seeking an answer from the Municipality of Teočak as to why the law is applied selectively, why solutions are being sought to the detriment of the only Serb returnee family in the municipality, and why there is insistence on demolishing facilities that are older than the local community itself.