ŠAPIĆ: DESECRATION OF MONUMENTS AND CHAPEL IS DELIBERATE EFFORT TO ERASE TRACES OF SERB EXISTENCE

BELGRADE, SEPTEMBER 22 /SRNA/ - President of the Coalition of Refugee Associations in Serbia Mile Šapić told SRNA that the desecration and destruction of Serbian monuments and property belonging to the Serbian Orthodox Church in the Federation of BiH is deliberate and aimed at permanently erasing traces of Serb existence in those areas, as is also the case in Croatia.

Šapić condemned the latest example of the destruction of 11 Serbian monuments and desecration of a chapel in the village of Trnovac near Travnik. "Everything is deliberate, just as in Croatia, where they now regularly go to cemeteries and destroy monuments bearing Cyrillic inscriptions," Šapić said. He pointed out that calls by individuals to destroy certain monuments that, in the authors' opinion, "offend the feelings of Croats" are becoming increasingly common on social media. "In my native village of Vladuša near Vrginmost, we know of individuals who go to the cemetery, look for monuments bearing Cyrillic inscriptions and post them on social media. Once this reaches government representatives, they destroy them," Šapić said. He noted that the monument to his next-door neighbor Zoran Madžarac, who was killed while leaving the "Logorište" barracks, was also targeted in this way. Šapić said he did not have exact figures on how many Serbian tombstones have been destroyed or removed in Croatia so far, but that it is a widespread phenomenon, particularly since the Cemetery Act came into force. He stressed that monuments and memorials dedicated to the anti-fascist struggle in Croatia had also been targeted in the past, recalling that anti-fascism is enshrined in the Croatian Constitution. Eleven monuments were destroyed at the Serbian cemetery in the village of Trnovac near Travnik, where a chapel was also damaged, the Committee for the Protection of Serb Rights in the FBiH said. The Federation Ministry of Interior has yet to shed light on the vandalism in the village of Zaselje near Travnik, where a cross was shot at in May.