GRAVESTONES DEMOLISHED AT SERB CEMETERY IN VUČINIĆI

KLADANJ, OCTOBER 15 /SRNA/ – Unknown vandals have demolished gravestones at the Orthodox cemetery in the village of Vučinići near Kladanj, Archpriest Darko Kujundžić, parish priest of Kladanj and Tišća, told SRNA, stressing that such acts have been recurring over the past decade or so and that the FBiH authorities have never identified the perpetrators.

Kujundžić said that, as in previous years, the gravestones belonging to the Zoranović, Stanišić, Gavrilović and other families were targeted.

"As a human being, especially as a representative of our Orthodox religious community in the municipality of Kladanj, I am shocked and offended," the parish priest said.

He asked who these inhumane people are who committed such evil against the souls of deceased Orthodox Christians.

Kujundžić stressed that, although these acts have been recurring for around a decade, he had never received any official response from the FBiH authorities, nor had any of the perpetrators ever been identified.

He said that members of some Serb families had attempted to restore the gravestones of their loved ones, only for them to be targeted by further acts of vandalism.

The parish priest of Kladanj and Tišća expects representatives of the Islamic Community and the Catholic Church to join in condemning this act of vandalism.

Đorđe Radanović, the head of the Committee protecting Serb Rights in the FBiH, told SRNA that, according to the 1991 census, there were 19 Serb-inhabited vilages in the municipality of Kladanj.

"At that time, 147 Serbs lived in Vučinići, no Muslims or Croats. According to 2013 data, only three Serbs remained in the village. All Serb-owned houses had been burned down, livestock stolen, and agricultural machinery looted," Radanović noted.

He pointed out that Orthodox gravestones had also been desecrated repeatedly in the Kladanj-area villages of Kovačići and Olovci.

"I do not expect the Tuzla Canton Interior Ministry to identify the perpetrators of this criminal act this time, as it has not apprehended a single offender so far. For this reason, immediately after the gravestones were demolished, the Gavrilović family transferred the remains of their loved ones to the cemetery in Han Pijesak," Radanović said.