Human Rights Violations against Non-albanian Kosovars

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# Orthodox Press: Kosovo and Metohija Chronicle, August 09
# Orthodox Press: Kosovo and Metohija Chronicle, August 08
# A SERB VILLAGE BURNED - 5 DEAD, 10 MISSING - Orthodox Diocese of Raska and Prizren
# Orthodox Press: Kosovo and Metohija Chronicle, August 07

Information Service of the Serbian Orthodox Church
PRAVOSLAVLJE PRESS
Belgrade, August 9, 1999

Kosovo&Metohia Events

Albanian terrorizing of the non-Albanian population in Kosovo and Metohia
continues to happen with the same intensity. Two evenings ago, the
Albanians cast a bomb at a Serbian cafe owned by Djordje Djordjevic, in
Obilic. Thereat, five young Serbs were wounded: Sasa Djordjevic, Vlastimir
Milosavljevic, Miroslav Ivanovic and married couple Dimic. As it has
happened many times previously, the people who committed this crime
have not been found or punished.

Couple of days ago, in Gornja Brnjica village, the Albanians wounded four Serbs by shooting from the firearms.

Today, at 17:00, the Albanian terrorists have plundered the houses of the Serbian women Ljubinka Simic and Ninika Todorovic in Pristina, and thereat seriously wounded the poor women.

The remaining Serbs in Metohia still undergo afflictions. The house belonging to the only Serb who has stayed in Dobrusa village, near Djurakovac, namely Vukasin Babic (aged 75), has been set on fire, and Vukasin himself has been molested by the Albanians; however, he has managed to escape into a nearby forest where he is still hiding. We visited Vukasin Babic fifteen days ago, and we tried to explain to him that he should move to the monastery of the Patriarchate of Pec, for his own safety, but he has not listened to us.

In some areas, the organized KLA gangs expel the Albanians from the Serbian houses which they inhabited, but the only reason for that is the plundering of those Serbian houses and setting of them on flames.

Rt. Rev. Artemije, the Bishop of Raska and Prizren, has visited today the area of Gnjilane and Vitina. He has personally seen that Zitinje village has been burned to the ground; the Serbs moved out of this Serbian village ten days ago due to various pressures and crimes that the Albanians committed.
 

Belgrade Events

His Holiness Pavle, the Serbian Patriarch, has, together with the members of the Holy Synod of Bishops, received today in the building of Serbian Patriarchate the representatives of the parliamentary and non-parliamentary Serbian opposition parties, and the representatives of Group 17, who have presented their opinions on the changes in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. All participants in the conversation have agreed in principal on the essential need for establishing a temporary government which would, during the transition period, help in solving of the numerous accumulated internal problems in the state, and in establishing of the normal relations with the international community. The participants in the conversation have also agreed that any kind of violence done for the realisation of the nearing changes is unallowable, and that the necessary changes in our society should be created by dialogue and in peaceful manner.

Bishop Atanasije
Rakita

Information Service of the Serbian Orthodox Church
PRAVOSLAVLJE PRESS

KOSOVO AND METOHIA EVENTS
Belgrade, August 8, 1999

In Prizren and in other towns of Kosovo and Metohia, the pressures exerted on the Serbs (aiming to force them to move out of their houses) do not cease to happen intensively. Yesterday and today, the number of those who have had to leave their homes and to find refuge in the other places in Serbia, at least for a short period of time, is really great. In Prizren, many people have found shelter in the seminary.

Rt. Rev. Artemije, the Bishop of Raska and Prizren, has served today the Holy Pontifical Liturgy in St. Petka church in Laplje Selo near Pristina. Among the people in the crowded church, there have also been the Russian officers from peace-keeping forces who attended the Liturgy. In the Russian contingent of the peace-keeping forces the Orthodox priests have also been engaged in its functioning - Serbia is the only Orthodox country in which the priests are deprived of such an activity.

Many Serbs have been killed today in Kosovo and Metohia. Serbian village Zitinje, out of which the Albanians expelled the Serbs couple of days ago, has been completely burned. This village is located in the municipality of Vitina, and it consists of 45 houses. One gets the impression that KFOR, after all, is not the force that equally protects all the peoples in Kosovo and Metohia. We fear that those who are stronger have some other criteria, unknown to the public.

Bishop Atanasije
Rakita

News
August 8, 1999

The Orthodox Diocese of Raska and Prizren received two days ago the information that the Serb village of Dojnice near Prizren was destroyed n July 24 by the Albanian extremists and that 17 Serb villages are missing. The news was confirmed today (8 Aug) by KFOR. In the official KFOR report it is said that the village is completely destroyed and the houses burned. Five bodies have been found and 10 Serbs are missing.

It is very unusual that KFOR only now gives information on this terrible crime which occured in the German sector. The village was apparently not guarded by German soldiers although it is the only remaining Serb village in the area where almost all Serb population was purged from Serbs in the last two months of "peace".
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Bishop Artemije visited today the village of Zitinje near Gnjilan, (US sector)  from which the Serb population fled several days ago before the Albanian terror. At least 45 houses have been burned and in the time when the Bishop arrived in the village with a KFOR patrol the local Albanian villagers were looting the Serb houses. Despite our continual appeals to KFOR to secure the Serb villagers and prevent the looting and burning of their homes apparently nothing was done and the Serbs now cannot go back to their village although they were ready to do so if the KFOR had granted them security. One more village is purged from Serbs due to lack of true comittment of US KFOR to prevent ethinc Albanian looters and arsons in their terror.

Orthodox Diocese of Raska and Prizren

Information Service of the Serbian Orthodox Church
PRAVOSLAVLJE PRESS

KOSOVO AND METOHIA EVENTS
Belgrade, August 7, 1999

Today and yesterday, the Orthodox Serbs in Prizren have been living under great pressures. Several houses of theirs have been set on fire, and another 5 Serbian families moved to Prizren seminary fleeing from the Albanian terror.

On the initiative of Rt. Rev. Amfilohije, the Metropolitan of Crna Gora and Primorje, preparations are being made for the reconstruction of the Serbian village Ljevosa near Pec, in the very vicinity of the monastery of the Patriarchate of Pec. Ljevosa village was burned and destroyed, but with the help of the international community, it could easily be repaired for living in. It closeness to the monastery of the Patriarchate of Pec guarantees even more for its safety. Therefore, the displaced inhabitants of Ljevosa village are called to report themselves, through the Metropolis of Crna Gora and Primorje, to the monastery of the Patriarchate of Pec, so that the records could be made stating the Serbs who are willing and ready to return to their hearths.

Bishop Atanasije
Rakita

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