Orthodox cemetery in Staro Gracko near Lipljan desecrated

KIM Info Newsletter 21-06-06

Radio KIM, Caglavica, June 20, 2006
www.kimradio.net 
 
Unknown persons have destroyed 16 gravestones at the Orthodox cemetery in Staro Gracko near Lipljan, KIM Radio has learned.

Staro Gracko representative Zoran Cirkovic told KIM Radio that farmers from the village noticed the destroyed gravestones this morning. "We will request a meeting with KFOR representatives where we will ask them to tell us whether they are finally going to start providing us with protection or to tell us that there is no life for us here and that we must leave," said Cirkovic.

Kosovo Police Service deputy spokesman Ranko Stanojevic confirmed that the incident occurred but could not provide any further details. Members of the KPS are currently on the scene and they are not allowing anyone to enter the cemetery.

KIM Radio has learned from a source present at the KPS investigation that 16 gravestones have been destroyed, and that the graves of the Stojanovic, Lalic, Djordjevic and Sabic families have suffered the most damage and desecration.

The representative of the Serb community in Lipljan municipality, Borivoje Vignjevic, confirmed for KIM Radio that the gravestones in Staro Gracko have been destroyed. "It is impossible to say what the exact number is at this time but it is estimated that at least 15 gravestones have been destroyed. These were for the most part gravestones that were placed after the murder of the fourteen harvesters in Staro Gracko."

Two days before Memorial Saturday, on June 8, locals found a landmine in the cemetery in Staro Gracko which was removed by members of KFOR. It is assumed that the landmine was planted before Memorial Saturday so that it would explode when the family members of the deceased came to visit the graves of their loved ones.

Staro Gracko is the Serb village where Albanian extremists massacred 14 Serb harvesters on July 23, 1999. The perpetrators still have not been found. The Serb village is completely encircled by Albanian villages.

Serbian Orthodox Church authorities strongly condemned the vandalism on the Serbian Orthodox cemetery in Staro Gracko. After 1999 and the beginning of the UN Mission in Kosovo hundreds of Serbian Cemeteries throughout the Province have been desecrated or turned into garbage lots. Thousands of crosses were broken or smashed into pieces. On several locations the bones of the dead were scattered out.

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Families of kidnapped Serbs from Kosovo protest in Gracanica

KIM Radio, Caglavica, June 20, 2006
www.kimradio.net

The families of kidnapped and murdered persons from Kosovo and Metohija protested today in the center of Gracanica, demanding that the international community and Serbian authorities shed light on the fate of their loved ones. Today's protest was held in commemoration of the day eight years ago when 10 Serb workers were kidnapped from the strip mine of Belacevac near Obilic. The protesters carried signs saying "We are looking for our loved ones" and photographs of the missing members of their families.

The president of the Association of Kidnapped and Missing Persons from Kosovo and Metohija, Simo Spasic, demanded that international representatives in Kosovo end their silence and tell them what happened to the Serbs who were abducted, urging them not to hide the fact that they were killed from the families but to turn over their bodies. Spasic also demanded that the perpetrators of those crimes be found and brought to justice.

The protest gathering in Gracanica was attended by several dozen people and took place without incident. Security was provided by members of the Kosovo Police Service.