Serbia has to protect its monuments and oppose the plans of Donald Trump’s groom, which seeks to level buildings in downtown Belgrade for a major investment project, says the leading European EUROPA cultural heritage organization.

Affinity Partners, a company of Jared Kouchner, plans to build a luxury hotel and apartment in place of former military leaders in the country, which had suffered serious damage from NATO bombings in 1999 during the Kosovo War.

“Buildings should not be demolished just because a private investor seeks to overthrow the cultural heritage to raise an inappropriate hotel and apartment complex“, Said Snska Quadfling-Michalovic, EUROPA Nostra Secretary General, who represents over 200 European cultural heritage organizations.

The venture, next to the Belgrade Government Palace, has divided Serbia politically: although supported by President Aleksandar Vucic, the majority of his opponents and much of the public are condemned. Protests even coincide with the months of mass mobilizations against the ten -year Vucic government.

The damaged buildings were included in a protected monument regime in 2005, but last year the protection was removed to facilitate reconstruction. At the same time, authorities granted Affinity 99 years for the plot.

In May, the case came back to the forefront, when Serbian prosecutors arrested a former official responsible for maintaining cultural heritage, accusing him of falsifying signatures in the document that paved the way for the lifting of buildings. Nevertheless, Vucic reiterated last month that the project is proceeding normally.