REPUBLIKA SRPSKA ADOPTS LAW ON RETURN OF PROPERTY TO REFUGEES

SARAJEVO/BANJA LUKA, Dec 3 (Hina) - The Bosnian Serb parliament on Wednesday adopted a set of laws regulating the return of private property to refugees and displaced people. The laws provide for the possibility of return of flats to pre-war tenancy right holders. The Republika Srpska National Assembly in Banja Luka adopted the law on the expiry of a law on abandoned property following a direct request by High Representative Carlos Westendorp. According to the law, all refugees and displaced people who left their homes on the territory of Republika Srpska during the war now have the right to reclaim their property, including flats. Similar to the laws which took effect in the Croat-Muslim Federation in spring this year, all those who left the Bosnian Serb entity after April 30, 1991, have the right to reclaim their property. The right to reclaim private property cannot become obsolete and there is a six-month deadline for submitting requests for the return of the so-called socially-owned flats. The adoption of the property laws was opposed only by representatives from the Radical Party, led by Nikola Poplasen, while spokesman for the Serb Democratic Party (SDS) bench said his party would support the government's proposals only if it would help prevent Carlos Westendorp from "imposing an even more unfavourable solution". (hina) rml