Serb Priests Help Sneak out Arkan`s Men from Kosova
PRAVOSLAVLJE PRES (ORTHODOX PRESS)
INFORMATION AGENCY OF THE SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCHCOMMUNIQUE - July 4, 1999
The Serbian suffering in Kosovo and Metohija is continuing. Nikoleta Vulovic reported to Patriarchate of Pec Monastery today and said that her husband Vladan had been kidnapped by Albanians, together with her Albanian neighbor Ujkan Maloku who tried to protect him. Today Albanians also tried to burn the house of a Serb woman, Natalija Babovic, in Pec. She had to leave her home and found refuge in the Monastery of Pec. It is still not known what happened to her house.
Today in Pristina a few Albanians in a tractor damaged the car of the Serbian Orthodox priest Fr. Miroslav Popadic who hardly managed to avoid a direct crash turning to the sidewalk. His car was severely damaged.
After the Holy Liturgy in Gnjilane, Bishop of Mostar Atanasije spoke the words of consolation to the congregation and expressed his hope that the KFOR would protect them. The local priest Fr. Zivojin Trajkovic informed the Bishop that Serbs were still being threatened, expelled from their homes. Their houses are looted by Albanians every day.
After Gnjilane Bishop Atanasije and Fr. Trajan Kojic went to Vitina and from there proceeded together with Fr. Dragan Kojic and Abbot Anthony with a US marines' escort to the burned Orthodox monastery of St. Archangel Gabriel in Binac. The monastery was first burned on June 23 when the residential building was set to fire. The church was burned later although the walls were still in place. The last building of the monastery was just burning when the priests came to the site. The belfry had been previously destroyed and the bell was found lying on the ground. Two gravestones (of nuns Aquillina and Eugenia) were desecrated and destroyed. The Bishop and his priests collected all remaining damaged icons and vigil lamps and took them to Vitina church.
Fr. Dragan Kojic said that the Serb villages around Vitina were looted and burned after the Serbs were forced to left the area. These villages are: Kabas, Drobes, Grmovo, Sadovina, Novo Selo, Trpeza, Tankosic, Pozaranje, Podgorce (where a new church reconstructed two years ago was destroyed). Village of Vrbovac is still under the terror of the neighboring Albanians while the village of Grncar was attacked by rocket launchers. In this attack two Serb homes were damaged.
Fr. Dragan Kojic reported that US KFOR soldiers, among which reportedly were many American Albanians, searched Serb homes for weapons, especially in Zitnje village. A few cases of robbery were reported as well. The KFOR authorities refused to confirm these reports although some US soldiers were heard speak some Serbian with Albanian accent which is not quite usual.
On the way back to Gracanica Monastery, on the Gnjilane-Vitina road in Donji Livoc village, Bishop Atanasije saw from his car three Albanians who attacked one elderly Serb who was driving a tractor and took him away to an Albanian house. There was no way to help that man. No KFOR soldiers were present on the spot.
The Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church will hold its session in Pec Patriarchate Monastery where a group of Serb Bishops has gathered in the evening.
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News at 13:35 http://www.kosovapress.com/english/korrik/06_7_99.htm(...)
Serb Priests Help Sneak out Arkan`s Men from Kosova
Peja, July 6, 1999 (Kosovapress)
Dusko Milacic, a notorious member of the murderous Frankie Unit organized by Arkan was snuck out of Peja yesterday by Priests from the monastery there. As Bob Dole, the ex-Senator from the United States, was paying a visit to the devastated city, a number of witnesses spotted Milacic, surrounded by priests driving out of the monastery in a car marked "Press" to avoid detection. One of the witnesses who spotted Milacic, Dole`s personal interpreter, notified Italian soldiers present that a known rapist and mass murderer was speeding away towards Montenegro.
Italian officials, when asked later of the incident, claimed no knowledge of Milajcic´s where abouts nor his previous residence in the monastery. Local KLA officials had informed the Italian leadership in Peja more than two weeks ago of Milacic and others and even provided photographs. The incident has angered local Kosovars and is bound to raise questions about the sincerity of the Serb Orthodox Church and its leadership in addressing the crimes conducted in their name over the last ten years.
The United Nations and KFOR are trying to bring elements of the Serb leadership, including the Church to the negotiation table with the KLA and other Kosovar parties. After an open joint statement a few days ago in which the Serb Church distanced itself from the crimes committed in Kosova, the smuggling of a known war criminal to Serbia will only reconfirm Kosovar Albanian´s skepticism. In Peja alone local officials have boxes filled with personal photographs taken from dead Serb paramilitaries demonstrating how local priests actively took part in the organization of ultra right wing parties led by, among others, Voyslav Sesel. With Albanians learning of this latest act of collaboration between ultra nationalist paramilitary soldiers and the Church the goal of a harmonious multi-ethnic Kosova envisioned by the UN and KFOR will be that much harder to achieve.
senden