Return of 1990s methods: RS authorities systematically seize Bosniak property

(Patria) - The process of harmonising land registers in the RS, enabled by the 2011 Law on Survey and Cadastre, is increasingly linked to a targeted change in ownership structure to the detriment of Bosniaks.

According to experts, this law is being used for the legal Serbianisation of the territory, reminiscent of methods of property confiscation from the period of the aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina, reports the portal Negatori genocida.

Sophisticated forms of property confiscation

Lawyer Emir Kovačević confirms that in many cases, private property is being transferred to the Republika Srpska without legal basis.

- I have represented similar cases in Bratunac and Milići, and there are others in other places in the RS. The exposure commissions often act arbitrarily, without establishing the facts, based on a statement from the RS Attorney General's Office. The Supreme Court of the RS has repeatedly found irregularities in their work - Kovačević emphasised.

He cites the inability of many owners to respond in a timely manner due to living abroad or lack of information as an additional problem, leading to the loss of their property.

- Harmonisation of land registers is a useful process, but not in the way it is being used for the mass transfer of property to the entity - Kovačević warns.

Legalised theft

The processes taking place today are reminiscent of methods used during the aggression against BiH.

A document from 1992 from Bosanska Gradiška and Sanski Most, in the possession of the Association of Victims and Witnesses of Genocide in BiH, of which there are thousands from that period across the entire Bosanska Krajina, testifies to how the authorities of the then so-called Republika Srpska "legally" appropriated Bosniak property, forcing them to hand over ownership under threats.

Transferring property to the name of the then RS was part of a broader strategy of ethnic cleansing and territorial acquisition.




In addition to the Law on Survey and Cadastre, the RS authorities are using other legal frameworks to undermine BiH institutions.

Recently adopted amendments to the Law on the Use of the Flag, Coat of Arms and Anthem of the RS allow the display of symbols of foreign countries with which the entity has special relations, such as Serbia. This further undermines the constitutional framework of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Call for urgent action

- Irregularities in the procedures of the commissions can be challenged through appeals and court proceedings, but it is essential that owners respond. By ignoring summons or failing to pay taxes, ownership passes into the hands of the RS - Kovačević warns.

What is happening today in the RS is a continuation of the policy from the 1990s, with a clear strategy that has not changed one iota, and even some actors like Milorad Dodik and Nenad Stevandić have remained the same.

The strategy of the entity authorities is to use legal tools they themselves invent, which are contrary to both common sense and international law, instead of wartime ones.

It remains the responsibility of the citizens and institutions of the state of BiH to stop such activities in a timely manner in order to prevent further destabilisation and weakening of the country's sovereignty.