GOGANOVIĆ: SPIRITUAL DAMAGE GREATER THAN MATERIAL

ZENICA, September 16 /SRNA/ – Deputy Minister of Defence in the Council of Ministers, Aleksandar Goganović, stated after visiting the desecrated Orthodox cemetery in the village of Pečuj near Zenica that the spiritual damage is greater than the material one, and that returnees need security in order to have a normal life.

"The material damage is not great, it will be compensated. Republika Srpska institutions headed by President Milorad Dodik, will help, but the spiritual damage remains significant," Goganović told the press after visiting the cemetery with the Minister of Labour, War Veterans and Disabled Persons Protection of Republika Srpska, Danijel Egić, and Orthodox clergy. He pointed to a growing number of attacks on returnees in the Federation of BiH, involving assaults on villages, desecration of cemeteries and churches and provocations. "This is becoming a systemic problem. I believe we need dialogue and to reach an agreement, because returnees must be provided with dignified conditions for living and working in the Federation of BiH," Goganović emphasized. Goganović stressed that muted reaction by his colleagues in the Federation is hurting, saying that such incidents do not contribute to peace and stability in BiH. He noted that he himself would be the first to condemn such an act if it had occurred in Doboj. Priest Marko Malić, senior priest of the Zenica church, says he has been in Zenica for ten years and that the period had been relatively peaceful. "We haven’t had this kind of vandalism, where someone deliberately desecrates a cemetery. There were thefts, some individual grave desecrations, but this is now really massive. Sixty crosses and headstones were uprooted and broken, which quite shocked us," the priest said. He has emphasized that they do not feel afraid for their safety, and that many residents called the priests on the first day to offer support. "These are normal, everyday people who are appalled by this act and would give anything for the perpetrator to be found and properly punished. Our eyes are now on the police and their investigation, we’ll see what is done," said Father Malić. Local resident Veselko Vesić said the cemetery had been in good condition and that he doesn’t understand why the vandals did this, adding that the incident has left him deeply unsettled. It is still unknown who broke the crosses at the Orthodox cemetery in Pečuj, some of which were over 150 years old, which is a testament to the centuries-long presence of Serbs in the area. The vandal desecration of Serb graves in Pečuj is the latest in a series of attacks on Serbs and their property in the Federation of BiH.