ATTACKS ON SERB RETURNEES UNACCEPTABLE, AUTHORITIES MUST ACT

SARAJEVO, SEPTEMBER 17 /SRNA/ – Any intimidation of returnees or minority communities is unacceptable and the responsible authorities must act in order to prevent such attacks, the British Embassy in BiH told SRNA.

In response to the inquiry by SRNA regarding the increasingly frequent attacks on Serbs and Serb property in FBiH, the British Embassy said that a stable and prosperous BiH can only be built on the foundation of respect, cooperation, and shared values. “The position of the United Kingdom is clear and consistent,” the Embassy stated. In FBiH, attacks on Serb returnees, their property, and holy sites have become more frequent. A procession with wartime symbols and intimidating chants, accompanied by ritual killings of Serbs by beheading, passed through Serb returnee villages in the municipality of Bosanski Petrovac on September 14, when the 30th anniversary of the 'liberation' of that Krajina municipality was marked. A few days earlier, on September 11, at the Orthodox cemetery in the village of Pečuj, two kilometers from the center of Zenica, 60 tombstones were destroyed. It has not yet been determined who broke the crosses, some of which are more than 150 years old, testifying to the centuries-long presence of Serbs in that area.