Mokra Gora – National Serbian Natural Park, established at the end of 2005. The park has an area of about 10.8 thousand. ha near the border of Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The ethnovillage Drvengrad was built here, which means the Wooden City, which has become one of the popular tourist destinations. The ski center located in the park adds even more attraction. Over the past years, the Serbian government has been trying to start mining nickel ore in the park. The latest victim of these attempts was Emir Kusturica, who has headed the private enterprise for its management since the foundation of the park – Lotika LLC.
Emir Kusturica is a renowned film director who was awarded, among other things, two Palme d’Or in Cannes. Films brought him world fame: “Black cat, white cat”, “Life is like a miracle”, “Gypsy time”. In addition, Kusturica is a member of the rock band The No Smoking Orchestra. Largely due to his merits, the national park gained its fame, and it was he who resisted attempts to turn a tourist site into a production zone. For ten years, according to the director, there have been many false accusations, various intrigues and outright slander. Recently, State Auditors named Emir Kusturica as a suspect in the misuse of public funds. The Serbian media, added Kusturica, unleashed a real persecution against him on this basis.
Kusturica himself is perplexed, since there is no evidence of misappropriation of funds. There are only violations of bureaucratic procedures. The director will explain that he is blamed for a single purchase of building materials for a total amount of about 8 thousand rubles. euros, while the purchase schedule requires doing this throughout the year in 15 small checks. Or, for example, if the inventory of property was carried out without the participation of the inventory commission, which is exactly what the guidelines require.
After these allegations, and most importantly after many years of fruitless struggle to preserve the park, film director Emir Kusturica resigned from government posts after these financial audits in protest of government policies. Apparently, the Serbian government puts economic interests above the environmental situation in the region. And even world-famous individuals are unable to resist this.
