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# Rugova accuses KLA for crimes against Serbs and other Non-Albanians
# 16 Serbian houses burnt down in Prizren
# Three Members of a Serb FAmily Dimic Killed in Kosovo,July 9
# Alarming Situation in Gnjilane, Kosovo
# More about Crimes Against Serbs and others in Kosovo
# Cap Anamur Criticizes West and KFOR in Kosovo
# Continual Crimes in Kosovo and Metohija, July 11
# NEWS FROM KOSOVO 9-10 JULY
# KNUT VOLLEBAEK, THE CHAIRMAN OF OSCE VISITED PEC AND DECANI
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Rugova accuses KLA
July 09, 1999

Madrid, July 9  - Leader of Albanians in Kosovo and Metohija Ibrahim Rugova accused members of the  Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) on Friday for hard position of non-Albanian population in the province and his main political opponent Hashim Thaqi for aiming to take over the complete control in Kosovo and Metohija with the help of he KLA extremist organization.
      In an interview to the "El Pais" paper from Madrid, Rugova said that "there are many members if the KLA in Kosovo who don't want to give up their arms and they are truly the ones making troubles", specially in the vicinity of Pec and Prizren where, as he said, "German, Spanish and Italian troops within KFOR cannot completely protect Serbs".
      Ibrahim Rugova gave the interview to the "El Pais" in Rome because, as he said, still cannot come back to Kosovo and Metohija: "My associates have many troubles in the field (Kosovo) concerning my full security", said Rugova stressing the threats coming from Thaqi's men.
      Albanian leader said for Thaqi that "he could act in the political sense only when he form his party and become legally supported by the people. KLA could be a political force only", Rugova stated.

 
16 Serbian houses burnt down in Prizren
July 09, 1999

Prizren (Beta-AFP) - The commander of German soldiers in KFOR composition, Gen. Fritz von Korff declared on Thursday that on Wednesday 16 houses were burnt down in the Serbian part of Prizren and 6 people, suspected for putting fire were arrested. The fire was localized only at 5 a.m. on Thursday.
      Von Korff expressed the regret because of the indifference of the inhabitants.
      "We will not be able to prevent other fires if the inhabitants do not cooperate", added the German general.
      According to the sources close to the German members of KFOR, there was a power and water breakdown in the Serbian part of Prizren half an hour before the fire.
      The German general told that it is possible that there was an organized action.
      German militaries had to bring the fire brigade equipment from their base in Tetovo in order to help putting fire out.
      German police in KFOR composition registered on Wednesday in the whole sector under German command on Kosovo more than 90 incidents, mostly fire and robbing.

 
Three members of Dimic family killed
July 09, 1999

Informative section of the Serbian Orthodox Church "Pravoslavlje pres" ("Orthodox press") announced that Albanians have killed three members of Dimic family - Vlada, Dusan and Milovan in the village of Romuje on July 1. It was confirmed that Dimic family was the last Serbian family in that village and, moreover, a very poor one.
      According to the church sources, four Serbs were kidnapped in Lipljane municipality. Seven days ago, seven Serbs were beaten and three of them were heavily injured. Albanians have broken into seventy Serbian apartments in Lipljane and Serbs are only 60 flats left.
      The day before yesterday, Albanians have beaten Novica and Dragan Kostic from Gracanica at the Pristina market place.
      "Pravislavlje pres" warns that terrorists, wearing the uniforms of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army are walking through the Serbian village of Strpci on Mt. Brezovica. Three days ago, they wounded Sasa Drulovic (27) by shooting him near the heart from sniper gun while standing at his door step in Drajkovac, near Strpac.
      Albanian terrorist gangs have arrived in Kosovo Polje as well. At first, they started to rob Gypsy houses threatening they would kill their owners. After the robbing action they set the Gypsies' houses on fire so most of the Gypsies found them selves at the collective centers in Kosovo Polje or Leposavic.
      In the yesterday's report from Pristina regarding the suffering of Gypsies, "Berliner Zeitung" paper from Bonn says that the Albanian terrorists have started to persecute Gypsies after the arrival of KFOR troops in Kosovo and Metohija. Some 600 members of that minority were locked to camps and it is not yet know how many of them were tortured and killed.
      The day before yesterday, the houses of Vlahovic, Pavlovic and Lakusevic families were broken into… One member of Lakusevic family confronted them with the help of his Serb neighbors and managed to chase the bandits away. Eye witnesses say that the gun shots were heard on the occasion but no one was hurt. Not until after the incident ended, British soldiers within the KFOR troops arrived at the scene and imprisoned two Albanian criminals.
      Albanian terrorists have chased away all the Serbs from the village of Gornje Dobrevo.
      Two women were heavily injured by a bomb exploded when dropped on the house of Slavko Stojanovic in Gnjilane, the news agency BETA learnt from a radio amateur at the scene. Ljubinka and Slobodanka Stojanovic were hurt while at a room together with five more people and an one-year-old baby. The bomb was dropped from a car, ten minutes after the curfew started and the attacked house is some 100 members away from a KFOR's checking point.
      Sources from Gnjilane say that an eminent doctor David Stojanovic, city hospital's general manager was kidnapped on Thursday in the residential area of Kamnik in this town.

 
Most difficult in Gnjilane
July 10, 1999

Pristina, 8th July 1999 (Glas Javnosti) - Centre for Peace and Tolerance in Pristina was reported in the night between Thursday and Friday the murder of Velimir Ivic from Pristina settlement Aktas. He was killed in his house in Dubrovacka street no 19. In Proleterska street, also in Pristina, the house of Ljubica Lazic was burned and Sibinka Petrovic was beaten.
      During the previous night and day ethnic-Albanians broke into nine flats of both Serbs and ethnic-Albanians.
      In Gnjilane municipality the situation is still very difficult. The Centre for Peace and Tolerance confirmed that members of the so-called KLA made an armed attack on Gornji Livac village on Thursday afternoon. KFOR troops did not undertake anything for preventing the attack. Somewhat after 5:00 p.m. in Gnjilane settlement Kavnik, in front of the medical centre, director of the centre Dr. David Stojanovic was abducted. Pharmacist Cedomir Savic was injured in Gnjilane on Friday morning while standing at the window of his house, learns Beta by radio-amateurs. Savic was injured with several hits fired on his breast. Having in mind that after director Stojanovic's abduction Serbian medical workers left finally the Gnjilane hospital, according to Savic's family, nobody wanted to render medical assistance to Savic and he had to be transported to Vranje.
     On Thursday at around 9:00 p.m. terrorists shell bomb on the house of Slavko Stojanovic also in Gnjilane. In that attack two women were heavily wounded, while among slightly wounded is a two-year old child.
      We have learnt from local authorities in Kosovo Polje that Goran Lakusic and Vesko Petrovic have been temporary arrested in Lipljan prison for three days now. They were seized by KFOR trooops upon the conflict with looting gang of ethic-Albanians who robbed 17 Serbian houses in Brace Jankovica street in Kosovo Polje.
      That the situation in Kosovo and Metohija has not been stable yet it was confirmed on yesterday's briefing in KFOR press centre in Pristina. KFOR spokesman Jan Joosten said that on Friday morning in Batuse village, near Kosovo Polje, two heavily wounded Serbs had arrived to the peace-keeping force point. KFOR transported them immediately to Pristina hospital, but they had not survived. Spokesman Joosten has not told their names. However, he said that the investigation showed that the Serbs had entered into an ethnic-Albanian ambush.
     According to the records of the Centre for Peace and Tolerance, so far 128 disappeared Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija were reported after the arrival of peace-keeping forces.

 
Endless crimes
July 10, 1999

  Pristina, 9th July 1999 (Fonet) - Serbian Orthodox Church issued a report including a list of killed, disappeared and abducted, mainly Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija, prepared for the period June 15 - July 9, 1999.
      Fourteen persons have been killed in Pristina since 15th July: Dojcin Kapetanovic, Ilija Sukic, Vladimir Stanisavljevic, Persa Stanisavljevic, Dragan Brankovic, Milenko Lekovic, Miodrag Mladenovic, Jovica Stamenkovic, Miodrag Zivic, Milutin Pavlovic, Dragan Rajicevic, Milena Stojanovic and Bozo Jovanovic.
       In the same period, in the capital of the Province 22 persons have been abducted. They are Branko Marulovic, Misko Misulovic, Beocanin (name is unknown), Petrija Piljevic, Zoran Djosic, Dr. Andrija Tomanovic, Nenad Stamenkovic, Radmila Petrusic, Luka Petrusic, Slobodan Vujacic, Sasa Todorovski, Nenad Brusac, Mile Buljevic, Milos Radic, Srdic (name unknown), Stanko Saranovic, Milos Mikic, Leposava Mikic, Tomo Tasev, Djordje Kuzmanovic, Milorad Jovanovic and Ivan Djelic.
      According to the OESC report the following Serbs have disappeared from Pristina: Miodrag Masulovic, Branko Markovic, Milutin Dimitrijevic, Dragan Dimitrijevic, Ivan Djelic, Slavisa Izderic (from Novi Pazar).
      Seven persons have been killed in Obilic. They are: Slobodan Pavlovic, Nenad Pavlovic, Dimitrije Marinkovic, Aleksandar Marinkovic, Momcilo Dimic, Dejan Prokic and Predrag Todorovic.
      Murdered in Urosevac are: Nenad Vujinovic and his son Srdjan Vujinovic, Bogdan Djokic and Dimko Parlic. In the same period Slavko Dzungulovic, Slobodan Stolic and Jovo Grkovic have been abducted.
       On 21st June in Slivovo village Zivojin, Dimitrije, Trajan and Zivko Simic were massacred.
      In Orahovac, Panta Grkovic and Mihajlo Velimirovic were killed and Svetislav Grkovic, Gradimir Majmarevic, Cile Vitosevic, Nikola Bregovic, Budimir Bulic, Boban Dedic, Marko Vitosevic, Peka Pelevic, Ibrahim Mulovda and Peka Simic, who is liberated, were abducted.
     In Podujevo Slobodan Mirovic and Sreten Zivkovic were killed.
      It is said in the report that in Pec Radoslava Cirkovic and another woman with the same family name and unknown name were raped and murdered. In the house of Kojic family 10 persons were killed.
      Davor Ristic was abducted in Kosovo Polje.
      According to the report, in Prizren in KFOR prison are Ljubisa Manitasevic and Nenad Manitasevic as well as two unidentified killed persons.
      Vlastimir Stevanovic from Dojnice village disappeared on 12th June in Skrobiste village, near Prizren.
      The list of murdered persons from various other places in Kosovo and Metohija includes: Milenko Lekovic, Nebojsa Jankovic (with remark that he was massacred), Milivoje Vukovic, Sreten Zivkovic, Milos Ralevic, Branko Vukovic (remark-burned), Tomislav Ristic, Marko Tosic and Hamza Rosic. Zoran Stanisic, whose residence was not given in the report, was abducted.

 
Cap Anamur criticizes West and KFOR
July 10, 1999

  Bonn, July 10 (Tanjug)- The Cap Anamur humanitarian medical organization Saturday criticized the Western policy in Kosovo and Metohija, including the lack of readiness of KFOR peacekeepers to prevent the violence of ethnic-Albanian KLA terrorists against Serbs. Cap Anamur president and founder Rupert Neudeck said in a press release, sent to German media from the Kosovo and Metohija town of Prizren, that "ethnic Albanians continue freely to loot and torch Serbian homes," and the local population was "still waiting in vain for the United Nations and the European Union to found a civil authority and restore order."
     "Five more Serbian and Gipsy's homes were torched in Prizren and environs last night. And what is the German KFOR contingent doing? It is distributing over 2,000 sets of civilian clothes to members of the illegal ethnic-Albanian army, the KLA, which has clothes in abundance anyway," Neudeck set out. "Everyone here knows that the KLA is responsible for the intentional expulsion of Serbs and Gypsies. Still, the KLA has since Monday been training 1,000 young ethnic Albanians for the so-called police action," he said.
     The Cap Anamur president also accused the KFOR of failing to do anything to put a stop to the looting gangs, which he said daily arrived in Kosovo and Metohija from Albania. "These gangs loot Serbian homes, organize trafficking in cigarettes and beer, and are albanizing Kosovo. Many have occupied Serbian homes without any problem and are triumphantly boasting of being the new owners," Neudeck said in his message sent to the German media from Prizren.

 
Continual crimes
July 11, 1999

Pristina, 10th July (Tanjug) - Today about 200 ethnic Albanians in the Kosovo and Metohija town of Orahovac protested the deployment of Russian KFOR peacekeepers in the area.
      Tanjug reporter says that the majority of protesters were between 14 and 15 years old. The demonstrations lasted for three hours. It was the third ethnic-Albanian protest in Orahovac in four days against the arrival of Russian troops.
     The KFOR Press Centre in Pristina reported today that a KFOR patrol had found two dead bodies south of Pristina earlier in the day. A KFOR statement did not give the identity of the two dead persons, nor their sex, but did say that both were tied, one killed by a bullet in the head and the other by a bullet in the lungs. The international civil police has opened an investigation into the crime.
     Five Serbian homes were set on fire in the German KFOR sector yesterday. KFOR troops arrested five armed ethnic Albanians suspected of arson, a released KFOR statement said.
      In Kosovska Mitrovica three masked attackers expelled Gypsy families from their homes and put their houses in fire. French troops have not managed to arrest the attackers, but with the assistance of Serbian fire brigade that arrived into the Albanian part of the town, they distinguished fire and brought people into their homes back.
     Five dead bodies were found in the town of Djakovica Saturday, three in a home and two in a field. A KFOR statement did not specify the time of the death.
     Two adults and a child were killed and six other persons wounded in the explosion of a landmine in the Djakovica area Saturday. The Italian KFOR troop gave them first aid and transported them to hospital.
      In Birac, near Vitina, in the US KFOR sector, 120 ethnic Albanians and 30 Serbs clashed Saturday, but U.S. troops intervened and brought the situation under control without having to use arms.
      KFOR patrol in Obilic last night at around 22:00 heard shots from Kosovo Polje direction. Following a suspected vehicle, they came to the house where they arrested one person and took from him an automatic rifle AK-47 and two pistols.
      In Staro Rujce village, near Lipljan, yesterday disappeared Vojo and Dragan Zivic. Their family who reported today their missing to the Centre for Peace and Tolerance in Pristina, believe that they were abducted by ethnic-Albanian extremists.
      Vojo (74) and his wife were 20 days ago expelled from their house in the village and sheltered at their son Dragan (55) in Lipljane. Father and son yesterday morning went to mow the meadow and nobody knows anything about them any more.
      As the Tanjug reporter was said by their family, they found few plastic cups, some scattered dishes and personal belongings thrown out from their car. The car was also taken by the attackers. The case was reported to a special international police who search for the abducted persons.

 
KOSOVO CHRONICLE 9-10 JULY 1999

1. Serbian Orthodox priest from Pristina, Fr. Radivoje Panic, was attacked today in the courtyard of his family home in the center of Pristina by a group of unindentified Albanians armed with pistols, bombs and knives. They wanted to kidnap the priest but thanks to the intervention of the neighboring priest Fr. Milorad and other neighbors he evaded kidnapping and the attackers only took away his private car. In the afternoon Fr. Radivoje managed to attend the funeral of Nebojska Jovanovic (32) a Serb from his parish in Batuse village near Pristina who was killed the previous night in front of his home by armed Albanians.

2. Yesterday unindentified group of armed Albanians kidnapped the director of the hospital in Gnjilane dr. Ostojic. He was heavily beaten and later that day set free. Another Serb Cedomir Savic from Gnjilane was wounded by armed Albanians in front of his house the same day.

3. The Serbs in Strpce (c. 10.000 Serbs) made a public rally in front of the local KFOR mission yesterday. The reason of this rally was opening of Albanian offices within the town hall alsthough this town is inhabited solely by Serbs. They say that their safety is endangered.

4. Yesterday the monks from Decani Monastery managed to save the valuable altar screen (ikonostas) of the church of St. John the Baptist in Pecka Banja. The church which was erected two years ago by Milorad Rajevic was burned by local Albanians three days ago. The attackers had previously looted the church and stolen many valuables, including the gilded Greek chandelers. Several ikons on the altar screen were already destroyed or burned. The priest's home was also looted and smashed.

5. The Serbian Orthodox Church in Petric near Pec built 4 years ago was mined by local Albanians and all valuables from the church were destroyed.

6. On July 8 in Staro Ruice village near Lipljan a father and a son were kidnapped by armed Albanians (Voja 70 and Dragan 40 Zivic). They also threw a bomb on the house of JOvan Zaklanovic in Lipljan yesterday but no one was injured.

8. Today two Serbs were burried in Pec. Their identity is not known yet. They were found in Savine Vode. One of the victims was beheaded.

9. Today a bus with 50  Serbs left the city from the Patriarchate Monastery towards Montenegro. The sisters in the monastery will evacuate all their monastery cattle to Montenegro because they do not have means to feed them. The security situation in Pec remains the worse in all Kosovo. In the city there are almost no Serbs. The Serb homes are looted and burned.

10. Three elderly Serb civilians in Decani were kidnapped in their homes in the course of the last week. There are no information about them so far. All Serb houses were looted  and are now occupied by Albanians. Gypsy houses have all been burned and their owners were expelled from Kosovo. The monastery in Decani offered last refuge to a group of 40 Gypsies. They are leaving all to Montenegro tomorrow.

11. Bishop Artemije and Momcilo Trajkovic refused any official cooperation with KFOR and UN authorities in Kosovo if the violence and crimes against Serbs are stopped by more decisive and effective meassures of KFOR troops.

Information Service of the Orthodox Diocese of Raska and Prizren

 Firma:         Decani Monastery

July 9,

Mr Knut Vollebaek the Chairman of the OSCE accompanied with Mr. Daan Everts the OSCE representative for Kosovo and other diplomats met with Bishop Artemije in Pristina on Thursday afternoon. On their way to Pec they visited a mass grave site near Obilic where Bishop Artemije said to the journalists:

"I very strongly condemn the outrageous crimes committed by Milosevic and his regime against the Kosovo Albanians but these crimes must not be a justification for the crimes against the Serbs and other non Albanian groups which we witness these days. Every crime is a crime and deserves outright condemnation."

Later in theafternoon Mr. Vollebaek visited Pec Patriarchate and talked for an hour with His Holiness Patriarch Pavle, Metropolitan Amfilohije and Bishops Atanasije and Artemije. The Norvegiean Foreign Minister said that the request made by the Serbian Church in which Mr. Milosevic was called for resignation is of great importance and expressed his hope that the Patriarch will continue to bravely stand for human rights protection and freedom of all peoples.The Bishops informed Mr. Vollebaek about the unseen terror to which the Serb civilians in Kosovo are exposed every day. Killings, expulsions, rapes, desecrations and destructions of churches and monasteries have become the usual scene in the course of the last two weeks. Around 200 Serb civilians have been kidnapped by Albanians recently and there are strong indications, unofficially confirmed by KFOR authorities, that UCK is still running camps for kidnapped Serb civilians.

In the evening Mr. Vollebaek and his colleagues attended the evening service in Decani Monastery where they were offered traditional monastic hospitality.In the morning, after the service in the monastery the OSCE Chairman with his team left Decani and Pec area.

Information Service of the
Diocese of RAska and Prizren

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