STEVANDIĆ: THE SEIZURE OF SPC PROPERTY IN BUGOJNO IS MALICIOUS INTENT, WE WILL NOT ALLOW IT

BANJA LUKA, JULY 22 /SRNA/ - The President of the National Assembly of Republika Srpska, Nenad Stevandić, said that the seizure of the Serbian Orthodox Church /SPC/ property in Bugojno is malicious intent and that Srpska will not allow it.

"We have never done that, and therefore we will not allow anyone to do it in the FBiH with SPC property. That is not a shame, it is malicious intent," Stevandić told reporters in Banja Luka.

He pointed out that they should look at how Republika Srpska helped reconstruct the Mufti's house in Banja Luka when it comes to property and construction works, as well as how the Institute for the Protection of Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of Republika Srpska did what the Institute for the Protection of Monuments of BiH did not do.

Stevandić said that they could ask the two Muftis in Banja Luka about this, both the previous and the current one.

He also stated that one cannot react democratically to malicious intent.

The parish priest of Bugojno, Slaviša Đurić, previously told SRNA that an attempt to seize the last remaining SPC property is underway in Bugojno, backed by local powerbrokers and politicians who are in collusion with prosecutors and lawyers.

Đurić stated that a lawsuit for the recognition of ownership rights against the Serbian Orthodox Church Municipality of Bugojno was filed by M.I., whose family owns a large residential and commercial building in the city center in the immediate vicinity of the SPC plot.

He reminded that this plot had already been the subject of a dispute, but that it was legally returned to the possession of the SPC in 2019.