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# Orthodox Cemetery Desecrated and Destroyed in Kosovo
# TWO ALARMING KOSOVO REPORTS, JULY 12 AND 13, 1999
# [Fwd: Information Service of the SOC, Statement, July 13 1999]
# Daily reports by Pravoslavlje Press on Kosovo
# Serbian Delegation Statement on White House Visit, July 10
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Over 50 monuments at the Orthodox cemetery of Kosovska Mitrovica destroyed

July 14, 1999

Kosovska Mitrovica, 13th July (Tanjug) - Albanian extremists destroyed over 50 monuments at the Orthodox cemetery of Kosovska Mitrovica in the past two nights, and KFOR French contingent troops on Tuesday morning arrested 10 Albanians suspected of having committed this act of vandalism.
     The cemetery is located in the southern part of the town, but no Serbs live there any longer, as ethic Albanians have either torched or seized their houses or apartments.
      Albanian extremists have completely stripped the Yumco garment factory in this town, which employs 400 workers. The robbers took all 300 sewing machines and other equipment, and all garment pieces and fabrics worth over three million D-marks. The extremists also stole 10,000 pieces of ready-made garments, said the press center of the Kosovo force KFOR in Kosovska Mitrovica.

 
THE REPORT FROM LIPLJAN, KOSOVO

July 12, 1999

Today, on the Feast Day of SS Apostles Peter and Paul, I served a Holy Liturgy in my parish church in Lipljan together with my colleague priest Fr. Zivojin Kojic (from 8.00 – 9.30 a.m). The church was almost full of people. At that time a larger group of Al-banians, which were not from Lipljan, began gathering in the main streets of Lipljan, in the areas where Serb inhabitants live (95%). This gathering soon turned into a riot against the local Serb population and was continued with burning of several Serb houses, throw-ing of Molotov cocktails and real bombs in Serb homes and courtyards. True, the Albani-ans had announced their "peaceful demonstrations" two days ago, but this were not peace-ful demonstrations but a real terror.
     Around 11.00 several Serb houses were stoned in Aca Marovic Street and Kos-ovska Street. The Molotov cocktails were thrown on four Serb houses. The owners of these houses are: Bozidar Aksic, Slavisa Simionovic, Zoran Brkljac and Ilija Cepke-novic (all from Lipljan) as well as on the building owned by Ljubinko Andjelkovic, a Serb from Lipljan too. Three houses have almost completely burned down while the fire in Cepkenovic house as well as in the building was put down by the local Serbs.
     At 13.30 unidentified Albanians threw a bomb on the house of Miladin Mladeno-vic. In this incident his son Zoran Mladenovic (32) and his friend Djordje Kocinac (33) were wounded. The latter is an IDP from Stimlje. The both wounded Serbs were trans-ported by  KFOR soldiers to a British military hospital in Lipljan where they were given a medical treatment. Soon after a bomb was thrown on the house of Ognjen Todic. In this bomb attack Milutin Kostic (44) was seriously wounded. He was also taken by KFOR to the military hospital but was immediately transported by a helicopter to Skopje. The third bomb was thrown on the house of Ljubomir Smiljic, but thank God, it did not explode and was deactivated by KFOR patrol later.
     Miladin Mladenovic (53) was brutally beaten by unidentified Albanians while he was on his way to visit his wounded son and his friend who were in the KFOR hospital in Lipljan. He was seriously injured around his neck and ear. Another Serb, Novica Savic (70) was beaten by Albanians in the field near his house in Novo Toplicane village. In this incident Novica Savic was seriously wounded by a knife. He was given a medical treatment in the military hospital. The KFOR soldiers reportedly told him that he was lucky because he was not taken to prison. According to their words, he used his gun in self defense. In  fact, the weapons was not used by him but by one relative of his who wanted to protect him.  With great regret we must say that on all our requests KFOR was not effective enough to prevent burning of homes and the mentioned bomb attacks. We admit that the KFOR patrol deactivated an unexploded bomb and took the statements from the eye wit-nesses.
     At 18.00 KFOR authorities convened a meeting with Serbs in Novo Naselje in Lipljan and asked from Serbs to give over their weapons until 9.00 on July 13. When the local Serbs asked explanation about these incidents in Lipljan the KFOR officer did not say anything but only kept insisting that the weapons should be given over to KFOR. He said: "I am not a politician but a soldier."
     These tragic events disturbed the Serb population which is a majority population in Lipljan because Serbs understand these demonstrations as provocations and the burning of their homes and armed attacks by Albanians as an organized campaign of expulsion of the Serb majority population from Lipljan.
     During the previous days we have demanded the protection from the local KFOR command in Lipljan. Our Bishop Rt. Rvrd. Artemije personally contacted Brigadier Bai-ley who in his turn personally and with a letter reassured the Bishop that the decisive steps would be undertaken to protect the Serb community in Lipljan. That was also con-formed to us by a British KFOR colonel in Lipljan, sent by Brigadier Bailey. During the conversation Padre Brian Walton was also suggested to remain in contact with me as a local Lipljan priest. So far we have had only one contact during the distribution of the humanitarian aid for Rabovce village near Lipljan.
     Many of Albanian attackers seem not to be the native inhabitants of Lipljan. So far we have already reported the names of several Albanians from Lipljan and the neighbor-ing villages who were organizing and leading such acts of violence. These are: Agim Tasholi from Bandulic village, Agron Gashi from Lipljan and Rasim Azemi from Lipl-jan. Reporting to you about this intensified wave of violence and terror by Albanian groups against Lipljan Serbs we URGENTLY REQUEST the KFOR intervention to protect the innocent Serb population from Lipljan.
     Remark: We also learned that during his stay in KFOR prison in Lipljan one local Serb heard from the Albanians who were also in prison that the Serb ZORAN STANISIC from Slovinje village, who is missing since June 22, 99, was actually killed by Albanians near Slovinje. Stanisic is reportedly buried in such a place that nobody can find him. But more about the place of his burial knows a certain Lulzim (Imri) Gashi from Slovinje, a former "Coca-Cola" factory worker who, according to the same sources, had looted and burned the houses of two Serbs (Ilija Pejica and N. Milkic in Slovinje).

Lipljan, St Peter's Day, 12.07.1999

Information Service of the Diocese of Raska and Prizren

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NOVO BRDO REPORT
(13.7.1999)

The attacks of armed Albanians in UCK uniforms as well as other uninformed Albanian individuals on Serb villages in the area of Novo Brdo was seriously intensi-fied in the night 29/30 June 1999. The shooting could be heard from midnight 29/30 June for a half an hour more. The armed members of UCK entered then the Novo Brdo neighborhood "Barake" harassed and beat the remaining twenty Serbs. The eld-erly Krajina refugee from Vojnic Milos N. (70), who was lying ill and exhausted in his bed, was beaten and forced to stand up. His leg and ribs were broken. Other Serbs came later to rescue him and took him away. Verica Petrovic (38) an inhabitant from "Barake" neighborhood was also severely beaten. On that occasion the members of UCK killed Milo Vukas (45).
     The Albanians forced 18 Serb refugees at 2.00 after midnight (30.7.99) from "Barake" neighborhood to the Serb village of Bostane. They left them in front of the village and told them to say to the Bostane Serbs that they had to leave the village in 24 hours' time or they would be slaughtered. As soon as these Serbs were forced out of their "Barake" neighborhood the village was looted by the Albanians.
     The Serbian Orthodox priest in Bostane, Fr. Emil Ferkovic, accommodated the refugees in his parish home (a very small one, with two rooms where he himself lives with his wife and 3 children) as well as in the church. In the morning on June 30 the KFOR patrol came to the parish church and took the seriously wounded elder Milos N. and took him to the hospital in Gnjilane. We heard later that he was transferred from to Pristina and Belgrade. A dozen of these refugees went on foot the next day to Gnjilane, while 9 remaining refugees were visited by UNHCR on July 10, 99. The UNHCR team came again today (July 13) at 9.00 a.m. with a bus and took them, ac-cording to the words of UNHCR representatives, towards central Serbia or some of the neighboring foreign countries (they proposed them to go to Sweden or Canada). The UNHCR representatives also proposed to the local priest Fr. Emil to go some-where away with his family too, which he refused, because leaving of his flock would mean their exodus soon.
     The same day, on Wednesday, June 30, at 2.00 p.m. a group of armed Albanians in UCK uniforms began shooting east from Bostane village. As soon as the KFOR patrol appeared they stopped shooting. (The same UCK members were later seen in their plain clothes. They hid the weapons and appeared in other locations as ordinary Albanian civilians. Some of them were reportedly seen in the local hospital in Novo Brdo wearing the white coats and saying they were doctors and medical staff.)
     All these days from June 30 until today (July 13) the attacks on Serb villages and hamlets around Novo Brdo have been continued. These are the villages: Labljane, Klobukar, Makres, Paralovo, Ljestar and Jasenovik. Especially critical area is the Filipovac neighborhood in Jasenovik village. The Albanians shoot there every night. In these villages Serb houses, stables, barns are being burned almost every day. More than half of the Serb population from this area have already been expelled or have left their homes under pressure. The remaining families live in despareate conditions and do not dare to go into their fields. The food supplies are seriously dwindling because the local Serbs do not feel safe to travel and get food. The shooting can be heard sometimes during the day (like in Bostane and Jasenovik villages). KFOR rarely pa-trols through these villages and when the patrols appear they usually do not stop in these villages so the villagers do not have an opportunity to ask for their help.
     In the last several days the following local Serbs were beaten:

1. MIROSLAV IVANOVIC (50) was beaten on July 9. The KFOR patrol found him lying on the ground and took him to the hospital.
2. CVETA FILIC (58) from Plavica was beaten the same day.

During these days the following Serbs were killed:

1. MILE VUKAS (45) the Krajina refugee, mentally ill person who lived in "Kolonija" neighborhood in Novo Brdo. He was killed in the night 29/30 June and his body was thrown by UCK soldiers in a mine hole or was buried on an unknown location.
2. MILORADKA STOJKOVIC (36) a maiden from Labljane village (12 km from Bostane village) was a mentally retarded person. She was found among her sheep in a meadow near her village. She was raped and physically har-assed. The next day, July 11, she died from the shock which she had suffered. On request of the local priest to KFOR to grant security for her funeral the KFOR patrol did not appear at all. The majority of the congregation did not dare to go to the cemetery. Only a priest, a driver and two men attended the funeral eventually.
3. STANKO STOJANOVIC (55) from Klobukar village. He was beaten by Al-banians on July 10 and was hanged afterwards. The animal feces was put in his mouth. Nobody, even not KFOR did inform the local priest. The body was taken down from the tree and buried by some local Serbs from the neighboring village of Busince.
4. SAVA STOJKOVIC (60) from Labljane village. He was wounded during the Albanian attack on the village and soon after died . Out of fear he was buried not in the cemetery but on the lawn near his house.
5. ZIVKO N. (68) from Paralovo village was found hanged on July 10 in front of his house. KFOR only visited the place of the crime but did not take any meassures.
6. ALEKSANDAR JOVANOVIC (77) was killed in his village of Bostane, Culjkovice neighborhood, in the night of June 21 while he was keeping guard near his house.
7. BLAGONJA STANKOVIC (70) from Ljestar village, northwest from Novo Brdo was killed by an axe on one of these days.
8. JOVICA PETROVIC (12) a son of Vlastimir and Verica Petrovic, the work-ers who lived in "Barake" neighborhood of Novo Brdo. The child was killed those days in the nearby forest where he was walking.

This series of UCK and other Albanian attacks on the local Serbs in Novo Brdo villages appear to be an intentional actions of ethnic cleansing of this area which has so far been populated mostly by Serbs. We cannot understand the failure of KFOR in their attempts to assist the Serb community in Novo Brdo more effec-tively. On the other hand it is very difficult to understand the efforts of UNHCR activists to help leaving of forcefully expelled Serbs from their homes and take them far from Kosovo.
     We appeal and ask the urgent help and protection of the remaining Serb people, their homes, property and religious sites.

The parish priest of Novo Brdo

    (Fr. Emil Ferkovic)
Bostane village, Novo Brdo
July 13, 1999

– The report was personally received, verified and presented to the Bishop Artemije of Raska and Prizren by

the Bishop of Zahumlje and Hercegovina Atanasije

 
Betreff:         Information Service of the SOC, Statement, July 13 1999
Datum:         Wed, 14 Jul 1999 14:46:13 +0200 (MET DST)
    Von:         Sasa Trifkovic <trifko@EUnet.yu>

Information Service of the Serbian Orthodox Church
PRAVOSLAVLJE PRESS

STATEMENT
Belgrade, July 13, 1999

Tonight, between 19:00 and 19:30, Serbian Orthodox Church of Christ the Saviour, which is still being built, has been set on fire in Pristina. In the centre of the church the Albanians have lighted a fire, and the installation has been burned. Soon afterwards, the priests from Pristina have arrived in the church, and KFOR soldiers have also come. The soldiers have said that they called the fire engine, but it has not arrived. However, the fire has been extinguished. Rt. Rev. Atanasije, the Bishop of Zahumlje and Herzegovina, who is at the moment in Gracanica monastery, has been informed about this event.
     A captain from the Spanish contingent in KFOR, informed hieromonk Jovan Culibrk in the Patriarchate of Pec that an Orthodox Church in Djakovica was set on fire. The priests have managed to provide KFOR escort for tomorrow, in order to go to Djakovica with the intention to take the remaining Serbs from that town and offer them refuge in Decani monastery.
     Yesterday, the Albanians tried to set on fire the building of the Metropolis in Pec, which was burning for some time, but the Italians extinguished the fire.
     The Albanians have kidnapped and killed the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohia again. Yesterday at noon, the Albanians kidnapped from the hotel "Bozur" in Pristina, two Serbs who have been expelled from the Serbian Krajina (now part of Croatia). Those people are Veljko Ostojic, aged 34, and Milos Gordic, aged 36.
     Last night, about 8:00 PM, the Albanians attacked Ajvalija village, near Gracanica. They tossed two grenades at the house of Josic family; Momcilo Ilic's house was also attacked, whereat Momcilo's son Bogdan, aged 18, was wounded. As the consequence of this event, another 30 Serbian families moved out.
     Priest Radivoje Panic has been informed that 11 Serbs have been kidnapped and 3 Serbs have been killed in Pristina in the last 24 hours, but this news has not been confirmed yet.
     Father Panic has seen his car in Gracanica today, the car which the Albanians hijacked from him couple of days ago. He has informed KFOR soldiers about that. The car has passed in front of them, and they have seen it, but they have not reacted appropriately and the hijacker has not been arrested.

Rt. Rev Atanasije (Rakita)
the Bishop of Hvosno

 
PRAVOSLAVLJE PRESS DAILY REPORTS ON KOSOVO

http://spc.org.yu/Ppres/arhiva.html
_______________________________________________________________________
Betreff:     [kosovo highlights] Serbian Delegation Statement on White House Visit, July 10
Datum:     Wed, 14 Jul 1999 01:24:54 +0200
    Von:     "Fr. Sava" <decani@EUnet.yu>
 Firma:      Decani Monastery

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
JOINT STATEMENT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
July 10, 1999

        At the initiative of the Clinton Administration, a Serbian-American delegation headed by His Grace Bishop Mitrofan of the Eastern American Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church was received at the White House for consultations concerning the situation in Kosovo and the prospects for democratic change in Serbia yesterday afternoon.

        Speaking on behalf of the Administration, Deputy National Security Advisor Jim Steinberg expressed the commitment of the United States government to protecting Kosovo's entire population, saying that "KFOR will deal with lawlessness and violence wherever it occurs."  The Administration encourages the Serbs of Kosovo to return to their homes.  Steinberg further expressed his hope that there would be "political change" in Belgrade, but underlined that any change can only be initiated by Serbia's citizens and must be peaceful.

        Bishop Mitrofan spoke first for the delegation by reiterating the calls made by His Holiness Patriarch Pavle and the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church condemning all violence and atrocities committed in the province.  But His Grace also called upon the United States representatives to provide more protection to the Serbian population and all ethnic minorities in Kosovo.   Fr. Irinej Dobrijevic emphasized the plight of over 600,000   Serbian refugees who are internally displaced within Serbia presently and stressed the need for increased humanitarian assistance for those individuals.

        Steinberg noted "the significant number of Serbian refugees" that have left the region and the commitment of KFOR to "protect all the people--Serbs, Albanians and others" by creating a "safe environment" which encourages the Serbs to stay and "participate in a multi-ethnic society." Mr. Steinberg stressed that the Administration has not and does not support the cantonization, partition or separation of Kosovo from Serbia.

        The delegation devoted much attention to the subject of democratization in Serbia, and the need for a change of government in Belgrade.  Though it is mainly the responsibility of the Serbian people to carry out political change, the U.S. Administration stated that it will support all parties advocating reforms in Serbia.

        The Serbian delegation included: His Grace Bishop Mitrofan, the Eastern American Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church; The Very Reverend Father Irinej Dobrijevic, the Serbian Orthodox Church Office on External  Affairs; Obrad Kesic, National Democratic Ethnic Coordinating Council; Milos Milenkovich, President of the Serbian Unity Congress; Marko Krstic and Neno Djordjevic, The Serbian American Student Association; Nancy Suznevich-Huber, The Serbian-American Women's Caucus; Zoran Hodjera, St. Luke Serbian Orthodox Church; Predrag Pajic, DC Chapter of the Serbian Unity Congress; George Grkinich of the Vlade Divac/Group 7 Foundation; Walter Mihailovich and Mara Lanovic of the Serbian National Defense; and Matthew Pavich of the CARE Foundation.

This Joint Statement was issued in Washington by:

The Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Eastern America
The Serbian Orthodox Church Office on External Affairs
Serbian Unity Congress
The Serbian American Student Association
The Vlade Divac Foundation, Group of 7
Serbian-American Women's Caucus
Serbian National Defense
Serbian American Leadership Council

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