Letter: Crimes against people and culture in former Yugoslavia

Sir: Reading Robert Fisk's tragic account of the destruction of cultural monuments in the former Yugoslavia, I wonder how many people are aware of the sad fate of the 15th-century Serbian Orthodox Church of St George in Gorazde. This pretty little church was built in 1446 and housed one of the richest collections of Orthodox theological books in Bosnia. Some time after 5 May 1992, when Father Bora Kosorich and his family were cleansed from their home, local Muslim fundamentalists blew up the church and ploughed under the nearby Serbian graveyard. Today there is no visible sign of either the church or the graveyard ever having been there.

The fact is that Muslim leaders in Bosnia have also pursued a policy of culturecide, even as early as 1992. Now that Gorazde is under UN protection, there should be no difficulty in verifying the ethnic and cultural cleansing committed by the local Muslim government. The UN War Crimes Commission has a responsibility to pursue and prosecute all guilty parties.

Yours sincerely,

STANISHA OGNJANOVICH

London, W11

21 June