ANY FORM OF INTIMIDATION OF RETURNEES UNDERMINES THE POSSIBILITY OF RECONCILIATION

SARAJEVO, SEPTEMBER 17 /SRNA/ – Any form of intimidation of returnees in BiH is unacceptable and undermines the possibility of genuine reconciliation, as overcoming the legacy of war is key to ensuring a more stable future for the citizens of BiH, which is one of the priorities of the European Commission, the EU Delegation in BiH told SRNA.

In response to SRNA’s inquiry regarding the increasingly frequent attacks on Serbs and Serb property in FBiH, the EU Delegation in BiH emphasized that on its European path, BiH is expected to take concrete steps to promote an environment conducive to reconciliation. The EU Delegation called on the competent authorities to treat all incidents contributing to interethnic divisions with the utmost seriousness and to fully investigate them in order to ensure a higher level of stability, trust, and social cohesion among the different communities in BiH. Attacks on Serb returnees, their property, and holy sites are becoming increasingly frequent, and in the last seven days alone, two attacks occurred in FBiH. In the municipality of Bosanski Petrovac, on September 14, during the marking of 30 years since the ‘liberation’ of that Krajina municipality, a procession carrying war symbols and intimidating chants passed through Serb returnee villages. 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.