LINTA: CROATS TARGETING DECEASED SERBS

BELGRADE, OCTOBER 24 /SRNA/ - The president of the Alliance of Serbs from the Region Miodrag Linta told SRNA that the aim of the anti-civilization Law on Cemeteries in Croatia is for Croats to one day claim that Serbs never lived in the Krajina region.

He stated that this law marks the beginning of targeting deceased Serbs, and that in the first phase, the removal of monuments deemed disputed is planned, but that a hidden agenda lies behind it.

"There is an intention to gradually exert pressure to remove the Cyrillic script from Serb cemeteries and to inscribe the names of the deceased in Latin script. The strategic goal is to eventually claim that Orthodox Serbs never lived in the Krajina area, but that some other people did. That is the hidden purpose of this law," Linta said.

Commenting on the statement by the president of the Homeland Movement Ivan Penava that his movement will be remembered for removing the chapel dedicated to the wartime commander of Borovo Vukašin Šoškoćanin, Linta said that this represents yet another expression of hatred toward everything Serbian, as well as an attempt to curry favor with citizens among whom he is not particularly popular.

"This is an attempt to present themselves as great patriots. Their method is to spread hatred and intolerance toward Serbs — in this case, by demolishing Serb monuments," Linta said.

He emphasized that it is high time for the Serb side to become proactive and, in addition to the ongoing struggle for the truth about the nature of the wars in the former Yugoslavia, to present to the world documented evidence of human rights violations against Serbs in Croatia, as well as in the Federation of BiH.

"It would be good if Serbia, within the framework of the National Assembly, had a department tasked with documenting all ethnically motivated incidents - desecration of cemeteries, churches, homes, removal of monuments, radical revision of history - so that we could produce serious reports and send them purposefully to international organizations," Linta said.

He expressed the belief that such reports, if submitted continuously, would attract attention and, ultimately, make the world aware of the severe discrimination and violence against a people.

"If such a report existed, I am convinced that at least 10 out of 750 Members of the European Parliament would mention it. At least someone would criticize Croatia," Linta added.