|
June 30,
2003
ERP KIM Newsletter
30-06-03b
Desecration of Orthodox cemeteries, stoning of churches, usurpation of the
Church property
attacks on peacekeepers guarding Serb patrimonial sites are frequent
methods of violation of human rights and rights of worship in post-war
Kosovo
(photo: destroyed tombstone in a Serbian cemetery near Pec)
FORUM 18 NEWS SERVICE,
Oslo, Norway
http://www.forum18.org/
The right to believe, to worship and witness
The right to change one's belief or religion
The right to join together and express one's belief
=================================================
Monday 30 June 2003
KOSOVO: FURTHER ATTACKS ON
ORTHODOX SITES
An Orthodox church in Pristina attacked in May
was again stoned late on 26 June, while tombstones in an Orthodox
graveyard in Kosovska Vitina have been destroyed. "This latest wave of
attacks is further proof that Albanian extremists are using all means to
intimidate and throw out of Kosovo the remaining Serbian population, while
the international community is doing little to prevent it," Fr Sava
(Janjic), deputy abbot of the Decani Monastery, told Forum 18 News
Service. After the May attack on St Nicholas' Church, KFOR spokesman Garry
Bannister-Green told Forum 18 that "KFOR deplores all such acts of
mindless vandalism". He denied that removing the KFOR guard had threatened
the church's security.
KOSOVO: FURTHER ATTACKS ON ORTHODOX SITES
By Branko Bjelajac, Forum 18 News Service
In the latest attacks on Serbian Orthodox sites in Kosovo, a church in the
capital Pristina that had been attacked in May was again stoned late on 26
June. The NATO-led peacekeeping force KFOR withdrew its protection from St
Nicholas' Church at the end of last year (see F18News 13 May 2003).
Meanwhile, Fr Dragan Kojic from Kosovska Vitina reported on 29 June that
fifteen more tombstones have been destroyed in the village's Orthodox
graveyard.
"This latest wave of attacks is further proof that Albanian extremists are
using all means to intimidate and throw out of Kosovo the remaining
Serbian population, while the international community is doing little to
prevent it," Fr Sava (Janjic), deputy abbot of the Decani Monastery, told
Forum 18 News Service from the monastery on 30 June.
These latest attacks came a month after two other incidents. On 28 May
unknown attackers fired at Spanish KFOR sentries guarding the Orthodox
convent of Gorioc, near Istok, while on 31 May a hand grenade was thrown
at the Greek KFOR checkpoint protecting the St Czar Uros Church in the
town of Urosevac (Ferizaj in Albanian) in southern Kosovo. Five people
were injured.
The United Nations mission UNMIK (which is in charge of policing duties)
and KFOR are searching for the perpetrators of all these recent incidents,
but in the last three years not a single person has been arrested and
brought to justice in connection with hundreds of similar attacks on
Orthodox churches or graveyards.
After the May attack on St Nicholas' Church, KFOR spokesman Squadron
Leader Garry Bannister-Green told Forum 18 from Pristina that "KFOR
deplores all such acts of mindless vandalism". He insisted that there is a
comprehensive review process before "patrimonial sites" are handed over
from KFOR to UNMIK protection. "Only when the correct conditions have been
met will this process proceed. These conditions were met when St Nicholas'
church was handed over in November 2002."
Bannister-Green denied that withdrawing fixed posts from outside Orthodox
sites (known in the jargon as "unfixing") reduced their security. "After
such individual attacks we undertake an investigation, in conjunction with
UNMIK police, and review the situation based on the facts and make a new
assessment on the appropriate course of action to take," he told Forum 18.
"The unfixing strategy does not leave a vacuum in security. The security
situation in Kosovo is complex and is dependent upon more than just fixed
guards. We have confidence in UNMIK police and the Kosovo Police Service
in their work." He said KFOR is currently protecting 26 patrimonial sites.
"I spoke with Fr Kojic by short-wave radio yesterday," Fr Sava told
Forum18, "and he is in a desperate situation. One of his parishioners,
while visiting family graves on 27 June, noticed that many tombstones had
been thrown to the ground and smashed or broken." The parishioner told Fr
Kojic, who alerted the local UNMIK representative, who went with the
priest to the site. "The only thing they could do is to identify the
damage," Fr Sava added. "The UNMIK representative offered some help in
building a new fence, but no other means of protection."
Fr Sava reported that according to Fr Kojic, the situation in Kosovska
Vitina - home to 150 Serbian families - has not improved, while in many
ways it is worse. "Several families have already announced that they will
move out to Serbia because of the constant threats and intimidations by
the local Albanian extremists. The situation is no better in any
Serbian-populated village or town in Kosovo."
During the stoning of the Orthodox Church in Pristina shortly after 9pm on
26 June, some damage was done to the entrance door of the church, while
several windows were broken at the parish home were Fr Miroslav Popadic
lives with his family. This incident occurred on the same day that, during
a visit to Pristina, NATO secretary-general George Robertson appealed to
Kosovo Albanians to show more tolerance and readiness to build a
multiethnic society.
The Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Raska and Prizren, again strongly
condemned the latest attack and requested UNMIK police to arrest the
perpetrators.
On 31 May, at 9.45 pm, unknown attackers threw a hand grenade at a Greek
KFOR checkpoint in the centre of Urosevac which also guards the Church of
St. Czar Uros, built in 1933. Five people were injured, including one of
the Greek soldiers, UNMIK police reported in a 2 June statement. The
following day the municipal council president Adem Salihaj, expressed his
concern over the attack.
On 28 May, UNMIK police also reported an attack on Spanish KFOR soldiers,
when a vehicle stopped in the vicinity of the Gorioc Monastery, near
Istok, around midnight, two people got out and started to shoot toward the
soldiers. When one of the Spanish soldiers returned fire, the attackers
ran into their vehicle and quickly fled from the scene. The monastery,
founded in the 14th century, was rebuilt in the second half of the
twentieth century. It is today served by seven nuns and an 85-year-old
monk. Nuns are not able to leave the monastery without a military escort.
"The situation is rather grim," says Fr Sava, "Albanian extremists want
all the Serbs out of the province, and the international community does
not have the means to stop it from happening. To us, the Church, this is a
clear strategy. To the international community serving in Kosovo this is
another reason to withhold information and hide the truth." He complained
that international bodies speak of the eventual return of Serbian
refugees, "but in truth we have not seen any significant number of Serbs
returning to 'peaceful' Kosovo". He said some Serbs have come back, but
only to check their possessions and leave again after a month or two
because there are no jobs. "Where there are no atrocities, economic
reasons are pushing the Serbian population to withdraw."
Forum 18 was unable to reach Fr Kojic as the telephone line has been
disconnected and an automated message reports that the line is out of
order. Forum 18 was told that on 30 June he left for Gracanica Monastery,
the diocesan seat, to visit Bishop Artemije and report on the latest
incident in his parish.
"Kosovo and Metohija is a unique postwar area in which four years after
the conflict the restoration of Christian holy sites is impossible due to
the prevailing intolerance of the Albanian Muslim majority," the diocese
declared on 11 June in a sweeping critique of the situation four years
after the international community took charge of Kosovo. "While at the
same time dozens of new mosques have been built, many of them with ample
funding from Arab states, Orthodox Christianity remains under persecution:
nuns are stoned and verbally abused, priests cannot normally visit their
flock, parish churches are stoned, the theological school in Prizren -
which worked even in the times of the Ottoman Empire - is closed without
any hope of reopening, cemeteries are being systematically desecrated,
crosses are broken and holy icons burnt."
(END)
© Forum 18 News Service. All rights reserved.
You may reproduce or quote this article provided that credit is given to
F18News http://www.forum18.org/
Past and current Forum 18 information can be found at
http://www.forum18.org/
ERP KIM
Info-Service is the official Information Service of the Serbian Orthodox
Diocese of Raska and Prizren and works with the blessing of His Grace
Bishop Artemije.
Our Information Service is distributing news on Kosovo related issues. The
main focus of the Info-Service is the life of the Serbian Orthodox Church
and the Serbian community in the Province of Kosovo and Metohija. ERP KIM
Info Service works in cooperation with
www.serbian-translation.com as well as the
Kosovo
Daily News (KDN) News List
Disclaimer:
The views expressed by the authors of newspaper articles or other texts
which are not official communiqués or news reports by the Diocese are
their own and do not necessarily represent the views of the Serbian
Orthodox Church
If you received this
message by error or you don`t want to receive our e-mails anymore, please
write to us: erpkim@kosovo.net
Our Newsletters are
available on our ERP KIM Info-service Web-Page:
/erpkiminfo.html
Additional
information on our Diocese and the life of the Kosovo Serb Community may
be found at:
Copyright 2003, ERP KIM Info-Service
|
