BOSNIAN SERB EX-CAMP INMATES' BODY CONDEMNS ISLAMIC LEADER'S RELIGIOUS COMMENTS
SRNA - August 8, 2004

Sarajevo, 8 August: The Association of Former Camp Inmates of the (Bosnian) Serb Republic (RS) most strongly condemns the statement by (head of the Islamic Community in Bosnia-Hercegovina) Mustafa Efendi Ceric during the opening ceremony of the newly-built Atik mosque in Janja yesterday, who said that there were no concentration camps or mass graves where the mosques used to be. The Association recalls that there were 124 concentration camps in Sarajevo, the city of 78 mosques, where mainly Serb civilians were held.

"Mr Spahic, as well as the entire pubic, should know that between 8-10,000 Serb civilians were killed in the so-called multiethnic Sarajevo and that there were 536 concentration camps on the Bosniak side during the war, exactly on the same spot where the mosques are now," the deputy chairman of the Association of Former Camp Inmates, Slavko Jovicic, has told SRNA.

He recalled that the bodies of several hundred camp inmates, killed in one of the numerous Sarajevo camps, have not even been found yet.

Jovicic described Spahic's statement as full of hate and intolerance, which does not contribute towards reconciliation and coexistence of all constitutional peoples in Bosnia-Hercegovina, but it provokes new interethnic conflicts.

"I do not want to say that the Islamic Community of Bosnia-Hercegovina is the only culprit, but it is certain that the role of its members in forming concentration camps for Serbs cannot be ignored," Jovicic said.

Jovicic said that after such Bosniak nationalist and religious statements, everyone should ask themselves the question - "does the reis-ul-ulema and those similar to him really want to see Bosnia-Hercegovina integrated in Europe or do they want to be considered as followers of Sulejman Tihic who is trying to revive Bosnia-Hercegovina as a unitary state with only one people, the Bosniak people?".

Source: SRNA news agency, Bijeljina, in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian 0945 gmt 8 Aug 04

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