At least 250,000 Serbs, originally from the Federation, could be left without land, forests and other property, due to the application of Article 58 of the FBiH Law on Real Rights – warns the President of the Committee for the Protection of Serb Rights in that entity, Đorđe Radanović. The disputed article allows the persons who have been using Serb-owned land illegally for ten, in some cases 20 years, to become owners of that property. The delegate in the House of Peoples of the Federation Parliament, Goran Broćeta, says that this is another attempt by Federation authorities to remove the Serbs from that Entity, this time quietly.

The whirlwind of war displaced almost half a million Serbs from the Federation around the world. In the meantime, their patrimony was overgrown by weeds, and their properties were usurped by their former neighbors, Bosniaks and Croats. They illegally cut down forests, use water sources, graze cattle on pastures, and cultivate the land owned by Serbs.

– They occupied this space in 2007. Without asking the owners whether they should compensate us at all, anything – pointed out Mišo Đurđić, village Okruglica, Vareš.

Rajko Miljanić, Bradina, near Konjic, emphasizes that the locals have been using the property for several years.

– These locals have been using this property of mine for several years. Hamo Jusufbegović, I called the police from Konjic, he used it for three years, he removed the house but left the fence and still uses it – claims Miljanić.

The transit from illegal use to legally verified ‘seizing’ of Serbian property requires continuous usurpation of Serb property for a decade or two, which is not a problem, because the real owners, the Serbs, left the Federation a long time ago. By the way, Article 58 of the Law on Real Rights states that a person becomes the owner of someone else’s property if ‘the possession is conscientious.’ Translated, that means that the illegal usurper can say that they did not know that they had no right to the land used.

– Every Bosniak using Serb land will say that it is his land and his successor will say that he heard from his father that it was his land, and that is how conscientiousness is obtained. In addition, he finds a couple of witnesses who will say yes, he has been using it for 20 years and that is his land – says Đorđe Radanović, the President of the Committee for the Protection of Rights of Serbs in the FBiH.

Serbs can prevent the registration of Serb property in the Federation to new owners by requesting in writing from police station to remove the usurper from their property. This, says Radanović, will break the famous continuity of ten or 20 years of illegal use, which is the legal basis for acquiring property rights.

– My assumption is that surely 250,000 Serbs have a problem with usucaption, i.e. acquisitive prescription, and that they can be deprived of property in this way, by use of Article 58 of the Law on Real Rights of the FBiH – emphasizes Đorđe Radanović, the President of the Committee for the Protection of Serb Rights in the FBiH.

– This Law on Real Rights is another in a series of absurdities of BiH and FBiH, because if a cadaster existed 100 or 200 years ago, how can someone reregister it in their own name and be a full user of that property; that is an attempt by the Federation to dispatch Serbs to history – said Goran Broćeta, a Serb delegate in the House of Peoples of the FBiH Parliament.

To avoid Serbs being permanently wiped out from the ethnic areas in the Federation of BiH, they must indicate their own property as much as possible, despite obstructions. It is estimated that out of the pre-war 540,000 Serbs, only 45,000 live in the Federation, and that close to 400,000 Serbs have the right to very valuable property in that Entity.

Source and photo: RTRS