Human Rights Violations against Non-albanian Kosovars
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# Orthodox Press: Kosovo and Metohija Chronicle, September 7_______________________________________________________________________
Information Service of the Serbian Orthodox Church
PRAVOSLAVLJE PRESSBelgrade, September 7, 1999
Kosovo & Metohia Events
Priest Zoran Grujic, the Secretary of the Diocese of Raska and Prizren, was in Prizren yesterday; he has submitted to Pravoslavlje Press the report on the life of the Serbs and of their Church in this town. In the night between September 6 and 7, the Orthodox church of St. Nicola was blown up with a mine; this church is situated in the schoolyard of the primary school "Mladen Ugarevic". St. Nicola's church was built in the 14th century, and Tzar Dushan assigned it to his memorial - the Monastery of the Holy Archangels. The students of Prizren Seminary performed the services in the church in winter. Terrorists placed 20 mines next to the church, out of which only 5 exploded, and KFOR expert team disarmed the other ones. The outer walls of the church are destroyed, and this church can no longer be used.
Fifty Serbs have left Prizren Seminary today and gone to central Serbia. Around 150 Serbs have stayed in the school. In Ortokol (new part of town Prizren) and its vicinity, there are 150 Serbs according to KFOR commander's information, and in Podkalja (the old part of the town) and its vicinity there are 30 Serbs left, i.e. the total of only 180 Serbs outside the Seminary. Every Serbian house is marked with KFOR placard: their tenants are always in the houses, they fear to leave the houses, and their safety depends on KFOR protection; the Church mostly supplies these people with food (it furnishes the people with food parcels), and International Red Cross and humanitarian services of the Roman Catholic Church sometimes also provide foodstuff to them.
Around 170 Serbs in Drajcici village, near Prizren, are still separated from the rest of the world and are lacking food - namely they barely survive.
In the devastated Serbian village Ljubizda near Prizren, three days ago, the church bell tower collapsed - that was the only object that stood whole and intact up to the moment.
The Albanian extremists in Vucitrn have tried today to set on fire the Orthodox church, from which they have been prevented by KFOR soldiers. The church, which was earlier damaged, has been additionally ruined.
It is difficult for the Serbs to move down the roads, even when moving through Serbian oases, since the Albanians attack more and more often. The day before yesterday the Albanians attacked Milorad Cvetkovic, the priest of Pristina parish, trying to seize his car and capture him. Father Milorad saved himself using his wits and managed to escape to the attackers.
According to the report of the Church-National Board in Gnjilane, conveyed by the amateur radio operators, nine attacks on the Serbian houses and apartments were registered yesterday; the owners of the houses and apartments were forced to leave this area.
Near Ajnovce village, in the region of Kosovska Kamenica, the Russian KFOR patrol found a corpse of a killed Serb, one of many who have suchlike destiny.
A group of Albanians tried to take over from the Serbs the primary school "St. Sava" in Kosovo Polje. They dispersed only after KFOR soldiers arrived.
The inhabitants of the Monastery of the Patriarchate of Pec were moved yesterday by a gesture of Italian KFOR officer, who, when departing the Monastery and leaving for Italy upon the arrival of the September shift, gave DM 200 to a Serb exiled from Krajina (present Croatia).
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