MILETIĆ: BAN ON CHAPEL RENOVATION IN SANSKI MOST - A SHAMEFUL VIOLATION OF SERBS’ RIGHTS

PRIJEDOR, JULY 30 /SRNA/ - The vice-president of the Socialist Party of Srpska /SPS/ Duško Miletić stated that the ban on renovating the Orthodox chapel in Sanski Most is yet another indication of institutional discrimination against Serbs in the Federation of BiH /FBiH/, and called on all relevant institutions to react to this dangerous precedent, which is unacceptable in the 21st century.

Miletić said that the decision by the Sanski Most local authorities to prohibit the reconstruction of the Orthodox chapel, dedicated to four Serb martyrs who were impaled by the Ottomans, deeply offends the religious sentiments and dignity of the Serb people and constitutes a gross violation of fundamental human rights and freedoms.

He emphasized that it is unacceptable in the 21st century to deny any people the right to renovate a religious site at a place of suffering, and called on all relevant institutions to react to this case.

"The Serb people are not asking for anything beyond what they are legally entitled to — the right to honor the memory of their victims, to pray, and to restore their holy sites. This is a dangerous precedent and a clear indication of how deeply the principles of equality and coexistence have been eroded in the FBiH," said Miletić, who is also the president of the SPS City Board in Prijedor.

He emphasized that the SPS will never stand idle in the face of injustice against the Serb people, but will firmly and vocally defend the religious and national rights of the Serb constituent people in all parts of BiH.

The local authorities in Sanski Most have issued a decision banning the Serbian Orthodox parish from renovating a chapel at the site where four Serbs were brutally killed - impaled by the Ottomans in 1835.