Case ended up in court: FBiH Government gave private property of Abaza family to Džemal Bijedić University

The Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina transferred ownership rights to the University Džemal Bijedić in Mostar in mid-February over a number of cadastral parcels within the land of the Sjeverni logor barracks in Mostar. This is property whose book value is estimated at one billion and 100 million KM, reports the Patria news agency.

Such a decision by the ministers and Prime Minister Fadil Novalić will now have to be explained by the FBiH Government before the court in Sarajevo. Ramiz Abaza explains to NAP that the Government did not allocate its own land, but rather the land of his family. And without asking. Several weeks ago, he sued the FBiH Government at the Municipal Court in Sarajevo.

- The Abaza family have been owners of the land in Mostar, today known as Sjeverni logor, since the time of the Ottoman Empire in these areas - claims Ramiz Abaza.

- During the Austro-Hungarian period, the land was given under concession to the then authorities, for 99 years. The concession expired around 2002, so the land was returned to the Abaza family. Today, it is a little more than 220 dunams of land, divided among about 400 heirs. Unfortunately, the FBiH Government treated this land as if it were theirs, and they are giving it away to whomever they wish, without anyone from the Government contacting the actual owners.

Abaza shows volumes of documentation that testify that the land at the Sjeverni logor location is owned by his family.

- If the Government needs our land, we will sell it. But they cannot use it without compensation, says Ramiz Abaza.

Lawyer Esad Hrvačić, who represents the Abaza family in the case against the FBiH Government, also confirmed to the Patria agency that a dispute over ownership of the Sjeverni logor land in Mostar is ongoing before the court in Sarajevo.

- It is strange that the FBiH Government could even make this controversial decision at all – says Hrvačić.