Criminal report for the destruction of Neolithic sites in Bijedići

The residents of Bijedić, Pećarska, Voljavac and Podbrež postponed the blockade of the main road Bijelo Polje - Prijepolje to June 4 at 12 noon, instead of May 28.

Locals are protesting because the construction of a quarry has begun at the site of Bijedići, which is about 6.500 years old in the middle of an archaeological site from the Neolithic, for which the owner of the company "Elas" Sućro Omerović claims to have all necessary permits.

Yesterday, they sent a petition with more than a hundred signatures to all competent institutions, including the Ministry of Capital Investments, asking for the termination of the contract, to protect the site and to review all approvals, especially before the quarry works near the houses, the main water supply for the "Gubavac" MZ , properties, meadow...

The Administration for the Protection of Cultural Property passed a decision on the "preliminary protection" of an already damaged site, for the construction of which it previously gave a positive opinion.

Bjelopoljac Andrija Delic filed a criminal complaint against the former director of the Administration yesterday Božidar Božović, due to suspicion of 'abuse of official position', because on November 30, 2020, he gave the opinion to the Institute for Geological Research that there are no findings of archaeological importance at the location.

In the application, he states that the then director's opinion from 2020 caused incalculable damage to the archaeological site and cultural property in general.

"By the decision of the Administration from May 11, 2023, it was determined that there is an archaeological site recorded by the Polim Museum since 2012 at the Ober - Trnje location. In July of that year, sounding tests were carried out and the Polim Museum team found objects belonging to the late Neolithic. Also, the commission that came to determine the situation on the ground following a report from the citizens of Bijedić concluded that there is a possibility that a part of the site was damaged by the works, which is why it passed a decision on the prior protection of the site and thus ordered that all further works be stopped," he stated in reported Delić, adding that the commission, after reviewing the Administration's documentation, determined that within the western plot in 2012, the Polimski Museum conducted sounding tests in 2012, which Božović must have been aware of.

Delić stated that from the statement to the media by the director of the Polimski Museum at the time Dearest Lutovac can conclude that the archaeological research was recorded in the Administration as early as 2012.