Serbian Church property registered as state-owned in Mostar, Bosnia

A Serbian cemetery in Bosnia. Photo: SRNA.

On January 21, 2026, the Municipal Court of Mostar (Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina) during the "harmonization" procedure of the land cadastre registered a number of properties of the Serbian Orthodox Church as state property, reports SRNA agency.

This concerns two Serbian cemeteries in the Vrapčići district of Mostar – one with a chapel and one with a church, as well as an Orthodox church in the settlement of Čelebići in the municipality of Konjic. The corresponding entries were made in the land registry of the Municipal Court of Mostar.

Serbs in the Neretva valley state that they completely did not expect this, and learned about the court's decision from the mass media. According to them, the disputed plots have belonged to the Serbian community and church parish for centuries, as evidenced by numerous burials of ancestors.

"Our people gave the land, and we have always considered it ours and the Church’s. It was never a question whose land it was. The Antelj, Vučić, Kuzman, and Šanjević families are buried in that cemetery. We never could have imagined that something like this could happen. It is not only us who are concerned, but the entire Serbian community in the Neretva Valley,” stated Drago Antel, a resident of Vrapčići.

The rector of the cathedral in Mostar, Father Duško Kojić, reported that the Serbian Orthodox Church parish was not notified about the procedure and did not participate in it, despite legislative requirements. According to him, the Church has already involved lawyers.

The Committee for the Protection of Serbian Rights in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina also indicated that during the same cadastral procedure, the Mostar court had previously secured the property of the Islamic community of Mostar and the Roman Catholic Church to the respective religious communities at the locations of mosques and Catholic churches, while the Serbian Orthodox Church properties were registered as state property, which, in the committee's opinion, indicates a selective approach.

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that the Interreligious Council of Bosnia opposed the creation of the "Bosnian Church".

Read also