GRADAČAC’S ST. ELIJAH CHURCH REGISTERED AS PROPERTY OF NON-EXISTENT CHURCH

PALE, OCTOBER 9 /SRNA/ – The Committee protecting Serbs’ rights in the FBiH has established, through an examination of public land registry records, that in 2008 the Municipal Court in Gradačac registered the Orthodox Church of St. Elijah as the property of a non-existent church and titleholder “Eastern Orthodox Church Municipality in Gradačac”.

"According to the entry in the land registry, the owner of the Orthodox St. Elijah Church in Gradačac is the ‘Eastern Orthodox Church,’" said Đorđe Radanović, the head of the Committee.

He emphasized that the Church of St. Elijah in Gradačac was built in 1895 and that, 113 years later, it was registered under a non-existent church and titleholder instead of being registered as the property of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

"The churchyard, where the traditional folk dance /kolo/ is performed on St. Elijah’s Day, was registered by the municipal authorities in Gradačac under the non-existent titleholder ‘the state’, even though no state can own a churchyard, nor can ‘the state’ exist as a legal titleholder in this context," Radanović stressed.

According to him, the name "Eastern Orthodox Church" was introduced by Austria-Hungary to undermin the unity of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

He points out that, even now, in the 21st century, the term "Eastern Orthodox Church" is being entered into land registers in the FBiH, with the authorities failing to comply with their own laws and to conduct procedures to establish the rightful owner.

Radanović explains that, under the FBiH Law on Land Registry Books and the principle of official verification and investigation of facts, the Municipal Court in Gradačac was required to carry out the necessary checks and investigations to establish ownership.

"How is it possible that, in 2008, the land registry recorded the non-existent ‘Eastern Orthodox Church’ as the owner of a Serbian Orthodox Church? How is it possible that, in 2008, they registered some ‘state’ as the owner of a churchyard?" Radanović asked.

He is convinced that the land registry officials in Gradačac knew that the church was Serbian Orthodox and that no legal titleholder called the "Eastern Orthodox Church" existed, just as everyone in the town knows the sites of the Orthodox and Catholic churches and the mosque.

"Had the court taken any steps to establish the facts, it would have found only one rightful owner: the Serbian Orthodox Church," Radanović concluded.