“With the involvement of prisoners in the implementation of the afforestation of Serbia, the Department for the Execution of Criminal Sanctions within the Ministry of Justice, public enterprise Srbijasume and the Faculty of Forestry will begin a unique aspect of the celebration of the centenary of the First World War,” said today the Minister of Justice Nikola Selakovic during a tour of the site on the Cer Mountain, marking the beginning of the work on the project A tree for a warrior.

Selaković pointed out that the project represented a merger of “the nice and the useful” in its aim of strengthening the system of alternative punishment. He added that the site on the Cer Mountain held 50 convicts, all minor offenders who had volunteered to participate in that action.

"Our aim during the four years of the project is to have about 1.3 million seedlings of deciduous and coniferous trees planted, or the number of those whom Serbia has lost during the First World War," said Selaković. He also added that in addition to the affirmation of alternative forms of punishment of minor offenders, this project aimed to raise environmental awareness among all citizens of Serbia.

Selaković pointed out that the idea was to have every surface forested in the coming period named after a famous person, military unit or an event from the Great War. He also thanked the public enterprise Srbijasume and the Faculty of Forestry for having recognised the importance of this project and invited all local communities to engage in the action so to allow for the level of forestation of Serbia to raise much higher than the current level.

Deputy Director General of Srbijasume Igor Braunovic said that the action had a wider social significance, inter alia, that Serbia was getting closer to the planned 41% of forest cover and added that Serbia was currently at a world’s average of about 29% of forest cover. Vladan Ivetić of the Faculty of Forestry emphasised that the project was one of the best ways to repay Serbia and remember all the victims of World War II.

It is planned that prisoners plant 11,250 plants: 8,000 seedlings of oak and 3,250 seedlings of wild cherries at the Cer site.