OHR suspends waiver concerning construction of houses at Kotorsko

The Office of the High Representative today announced the suspension of the December 2000 waiver concerning construction of houses at Kotorsko.

The suspension of this waiver means that all construction work on land affected by this waiver must cease.

Certain portions of land at the Kotorsko site are not subject to conflicting ownership claims. In the coming days, RRTF staff will attempt to identify these portions so that the suspension can be lifted in these specific cases and building can resume.

The suspension of the waiver will be reviewed following a decision by the Human Rights Chamber on the outstanding ownership claims that include those disputable portions of the Kotorsko site identified during OHR’s review. The Chamber is expected to review the case in mid September.

The decision to suspend the waiver has been taken because Doboj Municipality’s original application misstated a number of facts:

• Doboj municipality did not provide correct information on the Allocation Right Holders. Ownership of one parcel of land, consisting of 16 plots, was improperly attributed.

• The public attorney did not go through the normal verification procedure and it has come to light that nine plots currently being built upon are still registered as privately owned and therefore not eligible for allocation.

• Also as a result of inadequate verification it is unclear whether or not the municipality has legitimately allocated agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes.

• The municipality did not stick to the condition on which the waiver was granted, namely that the beneficiaries should fulfil the criteria of vulnerability; at least two beneficiaries who are now constructing houses on the Kotorsko site have in fact repossessed their property elsewhere.

The Doboj Mayor’s office has instructed the local police to enforce the order to halt construction, and has requested the full support of the RS government in this matter.