Yonadam Kanna warns that criminals are forging papers to get the courts to allow them to seize assets. The problem goes beyond houses, and touches land and businesses.
He spoke to AsiaNews about a major problem involving Christian properties in Baghdad. They get fake papers and go to court to claim an asset that is not theirs. Ant the courts usually give in every time. In recent weeks, the seizure of Christians goods has become a major issue again, especially in the Iraqi capital where most of the cases have taken place. Homes, shops, and buildings belong, in most cases, to Christians who left the country after as a result of the progressive deterioration of the security situation.
At that time, he had said that criminals were targeting Christian-owned assets whilst the government and the police were weak. In his pastoral letter for Christmas , the Chaldean Patriarch Mar Louis Raphael Sako had also complained about the widespread problem affecting society. Now the problem seems to go beyond real estate, involving gardens, land and shops, as well as monasteries and ancient places of worship.
Some government sources in Baghdad have identified three types of groups going after Christian assets: the first is local organised crime operating on behalf of the State through real estate groups and forged documents; the second are religious, predominantly Shia militias, and the third involves individuals acting for personal gain. Yonadam Kanna wants to end this. I also appealed to Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and law enforcement.
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