INSTITUTIONS MUST URGENTLY RESPOND TO THE RE-REGISTRATION OF SPC PROPERTY IN THE FBiH

SARAJEVO, FEBRUARY 4 /SRNA/ - Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations in the Council of Ministers Staša Košarac requested that the Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees undertake all necessary activities to prevent the seizure and protect the property of the Serbian Orthodox Church /SPC/ in the Federation of BiH /FBiH/.

In a letter to the Minister for Human Rights and Refugees Sevlid Hurtić, Košarac recalled that in the recent period there has been an alarming problem of illegal and self-initiated registration of SPC property under the "state of BiH" by certain municipal courts in the FBiH. "Besides being unconstitutional and illegal activities, cases of re-registration of SPC cemeteries, chapels, and churches in the FBiH represent a crude attempt to rewrite history and erase the identity of the Serbian people in the Federation. This is an absolutely unacceptable and impermissible practice that must stop immediately," Košarac emphasized. He stressed that the seizure of SPC property, as well as frequent attacks on Serbian returnees and their property in the FBiH, along with the endangerment of their rights and freedoms, require an urgent and adequate response from competent institutions at all levels of government in BiH, in accordance with their constitutional responsibilities. "In this regard, I insist and demand that the Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees, while respecting constitutional competences and the Ministry's authority, and in accordance with the Law on Freedom of Religion and the Legal Status of Churches and Religious Communities in BiH, as well as the Basic Agreement between BiH and the SPC, undertake all necessary activities to prevent the seizure and protect SPC property in the FBiH," Košarac stated.