CEMETERIES IN BIJELO POLJE AREA DEVASTATED

MOSTAR, June 14 (Hina/Habena) - A delegation of the Association for the Maintenance of Sacral Objects of the Holy Heart of Jesus Church in Bijelo Polje on Saturday visited Catholic cemeteries in the Bijelo Polje area, near Mostar, accompanied by members of the International Police Task Force, the Stabilization Force and the Bosniak (Muslim) police, Bosnian Croat news agency Habena said. Upon visiting the Catholic cemeteries of Vrapcici, Kuti-Livac, Lisicine and Prigradjani, the delegation, headed by the association's president, Marko Sesar, ascertained that most family vaults had been devastated. Most tombstones had been thrown down and graffiti could be seen everywhere. Attempts at arson were visible in the Vrapcici cemetery chapel, while some graves had been mined and completely destroyed. A wire fence at the 300-plus-year-old Lisicine cemetery had been pulled down, inscriptions on some tombstones had been covered with paint, while pictures of the buried had been taken away. Fourteen tombstones had been pulled down and family vaults completely devastated at the cemetery in Prigradjani, a village where Croats, Muslims and Serbs lived in equal number. The Holy Heart of Jesus parish church had already perished during the Serb aggression, but the altar and installations had recently been completely destroyed. Vulgar graffiti could also be seen. The trees had been cut off at all cemeteries except in Prigradjani, entrances had been completely devastated and fences had partly been pulled down, Habena concluded. (hina) ha 142038 MET jun 97