Linta condemns discrimination against Serbs in Croatia

BELGRADE - President of the Coalition of Refugee Associations in Serbia Miodrag Linta condemned on Thursday the discrimination against 14 Serb families in Croatia whose homes and businesses were seized at the end of the war in 1995 and allocated to Croatian nationals for temporary use.

Linta recalled that this was done pursuant to the Law on temporary takeover and administration of specified property, noting that the Croats violated this law by making investments in the Serb-owned property which they were given for temporary use.

When the property was restored to the owners, Croatian courts ordered them to compensate the temporary occupants for the funds they invested in the property without their consent.

This was blatant discrimination on ethnic grounds against the 14 Serb families, Linta emphasized in a written statement to Tanjug.

He also noted that in June 2011 the resolution of cases of the 14 Serb families was one of the conditions for the closing of Chapter 23 on judiciary and fundamental rights in Croatia's EU accession talks.

With the Action plan for the fulfillment of the remaining obligations from the EU accession process, Croatia committed to resolving these cases before joining the EU but this commitment was not honored, said Linta.

He urged Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic and First Deputy PM Vesna Pusic to meet this obligation in the shortest possible time.

The government of Croatia should reach a decision that will free the Serb property owners from the obligation to compensate the temporary users for the funds they invested without authorization and from paying the costs of litigation, and take the mortgage off their property in the land registry, Linta...