SELAK: WE WILL SUPPORT SOC IN PROTECTING ITS PROPERTY

BANJA LUKA, JULY 21 /SRNA/ - The Ministry of Justice of Republika Srpska will establish contact with the relevant diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church /SOC/ and provide every form of assistance in proceedings to protect Church property from usurpation and unlawful seizure, including in the latest case involving an attempt to take over a plot of land in Bugojno, Minister of Justice Goran Selak told SRNA.

Selak said that members of the previously established working group would also be involved in these activities. He expressed great concern over claims made by the Serbian Orthodox Church Municipality of Bugojno regarding an attempt to usurp and unlawfully seize the remaining property of the Serbian Orthodox Church in this town. "Only 44 Serbs live in Bugojno today, mostly elderly people. Therefore, any pressure on the Serbian Orthodox Church and its property represents an additional threat to an already small Serb community that is striving to survive in its ancestral homes," Selak stressed. He said that, in this regard, he spoke by phone with the parish priest of Bugojno Slaviša Đurić, who informed him about the ongoing court proceedings and attempts to usurp Church property. Selak added that he had contacted Željko Obradović, director of the Federal Administration for Geodetic and Property-Legal Affairs, whom he asked to actively get involved and examine all the circumstances of the case in order to determine whether there had been any unlawful conduct or violations of the Serbian Orthodox Church’s property rights. "I also spoke with Bugojno Mayor Edin Mašić, who promised me that he would personally get involved in resolving this issue and instruct the relevant services to seriously address the matter," Selak said. He also called on representatives of the authorities in the Federation of BiH to take all necessary measures from their respective positions to prevent any attempt to unlawfully seize the property of the Serbian Orthodox Church. "The Serb people and the Serbian Orthodox Church in the Federation of BiH must enjoy all the rights guaranteed to them by the Constitution, laws and international conventions," Selak said. According to the Serbian Orthodox Church Municipality of Bugojno, court proceedings are underway seeking to take away the last approximately 300 square metres of construction land owned by the Church, which represents its last remaining property in this part of the town. The Church Municipality warned that these were organised pressures and lengthy court proceedings aimed at financially exhausting and further endangering the remaining Serb community in Bugojno.