MR. STANKOVIC: BRINGING OF CHARGES IN CONNECTION WITH THE MONUMENT IN PRESEVO

27. November 2012.

The President of the Coordination Body of the Government of the Republic of Serbia for the Municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac Medvedja, Zoran Stankovic, said yesterday that criminal and misdemeanor charges had been brought against those responsible for putting up a monument to members of the Liberation Army of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja (LAPBM) in Presevo. Mr. Stankovic stated at the press conference that the monument had been placed without the permission of the Institute for Protection of Cultural Monuments from Nis, which is responsible for construction works in the square and which hadn’t been informed about it. He added that there were around 15 monuments erected to LAPBM members in the area of the three municipalities, as well as that there were other monuments that had been erected, such as the monument to Acif Effendi in Novi Pazar. "The state needs to take a general stand on the issue," Mr. Stankovic said.

Commenting on the statements made by the Albanian and Kosovo Prime Ministers Sali Berisha and Hashim Thaci in Skopje, who spoke about the national unification of Albanians, Mr. Stankovic reiterated that South Serbia is an inseparable part of the country. That was, he recalled, also stated by top US officials, such as the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and that position was conveyed to him by the US and UK ambassadors to Serbia Michael Kirby and Michael Davenport, as well as by the EU and OSCE representatives, Vincent Degert and Paula Thiede.

Referring to the meeting with the ambassadors, which was held on Friday, Mr. Stankovic said that the common conclusion reached at the meeting was that more investments had to be made in the area of the three municipalities in South Serbia. Mr. Stankovic also said that the Coordination Body’s planned activities included the construction of a new building of the Faculty of Economics in Bujanovac, the area of which is 1,480 square meters, the funds for which had been provided by the state and the international community, as well as the granting of scholarships to 240 secondary school students, the amount of which is 6,000 dinars per month to each student. According to him, a course in Serbian for 310 students, which is funded by the British Embassy, had begun, while the subsidies, amounting to 40 million dinars, had been provided to small and medium-sized companies.