Serbian, Republika Srpska officials lay wreaths at Karadjordje's sarcophagus

OPLENAC - Serbian Deputy PM and Defence Minister Milos Vucevic, Republika Srpska PM Radovan Viskovic and Serbian Minister of Labour, Employment and Veteran and Social Affairs Nikola Selakovic laid wreaths at Karadjordje's sarcophagus in the Church of St George at Oplenac, central Serbia, on Thursday on occasion of Serbia's Statehood Day.

Djordje Karadjordje Petrovic was the leader of the 1804 First Serbian Uprising against Ottoman Turkish occupation.

The wreath-laying ceremony was preceded by a memorial service in his honour.

Karadjordje's remains were transferred to the Oplenac church from a church in nearby Topola in 1930.

They are placed opposite the sarcophagus of his grandson, King Peter I Karadjordjevic of Serbia, who commissioned the church as a dynastic tomb.