Belgrade hosted a presentation of the activities of the Office for Legal Assistance to Serbs Claiming the Right to Real Estate in the Federation of BiH, and the Srpska zemlja portal.

Serbs from the Federation can now obtain information about their rights more easily and take active involvement in order to prevent the cantonal and federal authorities from permanently seizing their property, without their knowledge, in a non-transparent process of establishing new land registers.

An agreement was signed between the Commissariat for Refugees of the Republic of Serbia and the Committee for the Protection of Rights of Serbs from the Federation.

In various ways, attempts are being made to appropriate Serb property in the Federation of BiH, which is why Serbs have been fighting against the system on their own for years. With the opening of the Offices in Belgrade, Serbs will receive legal assistance for exercising their rights in the Federation of BiH and repossessing the property that belongs to them. An office is expected to open in Novi Sad soon.

The Director of the Republic of Srpska Representative Office in Serbia, Mlađen Cicović, said he believed the joint action would improve the visibility of protecting the property rights of Serbs originating from the FBiH during the process of harmonizing real estate data in that entity, and contribute to the protection of their property and other rights.

The Chairman of the Committee on the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region of the Serbian Parliament, Milimir Vujadinović, pointed out that more than half a million people had been forcibly displaced from the FBiH, and that Serbia, always a refuge for them, was now trying to help them through its institutions.

The authorities of the Federation are seizing Serbian property in a number of perfidious ways. One of the main ways is covering up information.

The Acting Director of the Directorate for Cooperation with the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, Arnaud Gouillon, pointed out that today about 400,000 Serbs claimed the right to real estate in FBiH.

– I appeal to all Serbs around the world to check whether the land of their ancestors still bears the name of their families. For our part, we will continue to fight together for respect for basic human rights and rights of Serbs to their property – said Gouillon.

The Commissioner of the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration of Serbia, Vladimir Cucić, said that there were no registers in over 60 of the 79 municipalities in FBiH, and called on the heirs to protect their roots so that they know who they are and where they come from.

Great support in that fight will be provided by the portal Srpska zemlja /srpskazemlja.org/, which, in addition to information about the current laws in the Federation of BiH, offers concrete explanations on how to fight for one’s rights. There are also valid forms, which significantly facilitates the fight against bureaucracy.

The President of the Committee for Protection of the Rights of Serbs in the FBiH, Đorđe Radanović, who is also the coordinator of operation of the legal assistance offices of the Republic of Srpska, said that the biggest problem of Serbs in the FBiH was the failure to hold probate hearings.

It was emphasized that regardless of the expiration of deadline for harmonization, every Serb who thus had lost his property could submit a request for correction according to the instructions and the form available on the portal Srpska zemlja.

Source and photo: RTRS