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June 21, 2006
KIM Info Newsletter 21-06-06 Orthodox cemetery in Staro Gracko near Lipljan desecrated KIM Radio has learned from a source present at the Kosovo Police Service investigation that 16 gravestones have been destroyed, and that the graves of the Stojanovic, Lalic, Djordjevic and Sabic families have suffered the most damage and desecration. These were for the most part gravestones that were placed after the murder of the fourteen harvesters in Staro Gracko. Two days before Memorial Saturday, on June 8, locals found a landmine in the cemetery in Staro Gracko which was removed by members of KFOR Radio KIM, Caglavica, June 20, 2006
www.kimradio.net Today's police investigation at cemetery in Staro Gracko near Lipljan (photographs by KIM Radio, Z. Rakocevic)
(click on photo to enlarge) 
Unknown persons have destroyed 16 gravestones at the Orthodox cemetery in Staro Gracko near Lipljan, KIM Radio has learned.
Staro Gracko representative Zoran Cirkovic told KIM Radio that farmers from the village noticed the destroyed gravestones this morning. "We will request a meeting with KFOR representatives where we will ask them to tell us whether they are finally going to start providing us with protection or to tell us that there is no life for us here and that we must leave," said Cirkovic. Kosovo Police Service deputy spokesman Ranko Stanojevic confirmed that the incident occurred but could not provide any further details. Members of the KPS are currently on the scene and they are not allowing anyone to enter the cemetery. KIM Radio has learned from a source present at the KPS investigation that 16 gravestones have been destroyed, and that the graves of the Stojanovic, Lalic, Djordjevic and Sabic families have suffered the most damage and desecration.
The representative of the Serb community in Lipljan municipality, Borivoje Vignjevic, confirmed for KIM Radio that the gravestones in Staro Gracko have been destroyed. "It is impossible to say what the exact number is at this time but it is estimated that at least 15 gravestones have been destroyed. These were for the most part gravestones that were placed after the murder of the fourteen harvesters in Staro Gracko." 
Destroyed gravestones at cemetery in Staro Gracko
(click on photo to enlarge)
Two days before Memorial Saturday, on June 8, locals found a landmine in the cemetery in Staro Gracko which was removed by members of KFOR. It is assumed that the landmine was planted before Memorial Saturday so that it would explode when the family members of the deceased came to visit the graves of their loved ones. Staro Gracko is the Serb village where Albanian extremists massacred 14 Serb harvesters on July 23, 1999. The perpetrators still have not been found. The Serb village is completely encircled by Albanian villages. Serbian Orthodox Church authorities strongly condemned the vandalism on the Serbian Orthodox cemetery in Staro Gracko. After 1999 and the beginning of the UN Mission in Kosovo hundreds of Serbian Cemeteries throughout the Province have been desecrated or turned into garbage lots. Thousands of crosses were broken or smashed into pieces. On several locations the bones of the dead were scattered out. 
Destroyed gravestones at cemetery in Staro Gracko
(click on photo to enlarge)
Serb cemetery desecrated in Kosovo Associated Press: Tuesday, June 20, 2006 9:37 AM PRISTINA, Serbia-Vandals have damaged tombstones in a Serb cemetery in central Kosovo, police and a Serb government center said Tuesday. Sixteen graveside monuments were damaged in the Serb village of Staro Gracko, 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of the province's capital, Pristina, said police spokesman Veton Elshani. Police were at the scene investigating. Elshani said it was not clear when the damage was done. But a Serb government-run center in Kosovo, quoting local Serb representatives, said a group got into the cemetery early Tuesday and vandalized the monuments, leaving behind broken crosses, benches and pots for flowers and candles. Kosovo has been run by a United Nations mission since 1999, when a NATO air war halted Serb forces' crackdown on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians. U.N.-brokered talks will determine whether Kosovo will become an independent state, as the ethnic Albanians demand, or remain attached to Serbia, as the province's minority Serbs insist. 
Destroyed gravestones at cemetery in Staro Gracko
(click on photo to enlarge)
Destroyed gravestones at cemetery in Staro Gracko
(click on photo to enlarge)
OTHER NEWS FROM KOSOVO:
Serb returnee killed in central Kosovo Associated Press: Tuesday, June 20, 2006 2:54 PM PRISTINA, Serbia-A Serb returnee was found shot dead inside his house in a central Kosovo town Tuesday, police and Serb officials said. The 68 year-old Serb, identified as Dragan Popovic, was discovered by police after the officers received a report of a body found in a house in the town of Klina, 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of Kosovo's capital, Pristina, Kosovo's police said in a statement. Police and Serbian sources told the Associated Press that Popovic was shot in the neck and discovered dead by his neighbor early Tuesday in his house. He was last seen late Monday returning to his home from a shop. Nothing was touched in the house, the Serb officials said. An investigating team from the main police headquarters, consisting of local and U.N. police officers, were dispatched to the scene to conduct an investigation. Police have no suspects and have not yet established a motive for the apparent killing. Several Serbs have returned to Klina recently, after fleeing the aftermath of the province's 1998-1999 war fearing attacks by ethnic Albanian extremists seeking to revenge for thousands of dead following Serb forces crackdown in Kosovo. Though Kosovo's leadership has invited Serbs to come back to their original homes in the province, some ethnic Albanians remain hostile to their return. Separately, vandals damaged sixteen graveside monuments in the Serb village of Staro Gracko, 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of the province's capital, Pristina, police said. A Serb government-run center in Kosovo, quoting local Serb representatives, said a group got into the cemetery early Tuesday and vandalized the monuments, leaving behind broken crosses, benches and pots for flowers and candles. Kosovo has been run by a United Nations mission since 1999, when a NATO air war halted Serb forces' crackdown on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians. U.N.-brokered talks are under way to determine whether Kosovo will become an independent state, as the ethnic Albanians demand, or remain attached to Serbia, as the province's minority Serbs insist.
Body of Serb man found in Klina KLINA, June 20, 2006 (Beta news agency, Belgrade) Police in Klina today found the lifeless body of a Kosovo Serb man, stating that he was 68 years of age. The police statement provided for Beta states that the police and the public prosecutor have launched an investigation. Serb returnees to Klina have informed Beta that the body found was that of Dragan Popovic, a returnee who came back in the middle of last year. "Popovic's body was found in his house," Serb sources in Klina told Beta, adding that the results of the investigation and autopsy are forthcoming.
Families of kidnapped Serbs from Kosovo protest in Gracanica The families of kidnapped and murdered persons from Kosovo and Metohija protested today in the center of Gracanica, demanding that the international community and Serbian authorities shed light on the fate of their loved ones. Today's protest was held in commemoration of the day eight years ago when 10 Serb workers were kidnapped from the strip mine of Belacevac near Obilic. The protesters carried signs saying "We are looking for our loved ones" and photographs of the missing members of their families. The president of the Association of Kidnapped and Missing Persons from Kosovo and Metohija, Simo Spasic, demanded that international representatives in Kosovo end their silence and tell them what happened to the Serbs who were abducted, urging them not to hide the fact that they were killed from the families but to turn over their bodies. Spasic also demanded that the perpetrators of those crimes be found and brought to justice. The protest gathering in Gracanica was attended by several dozen people and took place without incident. Security was provided by members of the Kosovo Police Service.
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