RADANOVIĆ: PRESSURE ON SERB RETURNEES IN TEOČAK AIMED AT FORCING THEM TO LEAVE

TEOČAK, December 19 /SRNA/ - President of the Committee for the Protection of Serb Rights in the Federation of BiH Đorđe Radanović stated that there is evident pressure being exerted on Serb returnees in the Municipality of Teočak with the aim of forcing them to leave, adding that there is absolutely no legal basis for the demolition of auxiliary facilities belonging to the Serb Kovačević family, which were built before the war.

Radanović told SRNA that the Dayton Peace Agreement stipulates that everyone has the right to restore facilities that existed before the war, regardless of whether they were damaged during the war or not, especially when it comes to returnee families.

He stressed that the case of the Kovačević family concerns Serbs who returned to a predominantly Muslim municipality and that the disputed auxiliary facilities are necessary for agriculture and basic survival.

"I cannot believe that a small and underdeveloped municipality such as Teočak, which has only one Serb village - Rastošnica - is exerting pressure on one, two or three Serb households that have remained there," Radanović said.

He emphasized that there can be no justification for demolishing auxiliary facilities built before the war and pointed out that in Republika Srpska, Muslim returnees have been allowed to rebuild all facilities they had prior to 1992, regardless of whether construction documentation exists.

The household of sister and brother Ljiljana and Milan Kovačević, the only returnees to the village of Rastošnica in the Federation of BiH, is under heavy pressure from the municipal authorities in Teočak, which are demanding the demolition of their auxiliary facilities built in 1985.