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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Harshest condemnation of attack on Church of Dormition of Holy Virgin in Orahovac

Belgrade, 15 October 2015

The Serbian government’s Office for Kosovo-Metohija has condemned in the harshest terms yesterday’s attack on the Church of Dormition of Holy Virgin in Orahovac and requests that the perpetrators be immediately found and brought to justice.

The statement by the Office for Kosovo-Metohija says that the attack on the Serbian church, on the day of the big Eastern Christian holiday of Intercession of the Theotokos, at the moment when children were playing in the church yard, confirms that an atmosphere of fear and lawlessness is still being fomented in Kosovo-Metohija, an atmosphere where there is no safety neither for Serbs nor for Serbian holy sites.

The intentional and premeditated nature of this attack can be seen from the fact that on the same day last year, 14 October, on the same religious holiday, Albanian extremists stoned the parish house of this church where a local parish lives with his family.

The Office for Kosovo-Metohija recalls that as recently as yesterday Pristina was assuring the Serbian delegation that by becoming member of UNESCO, Kosovo will improve the position of the Serbian heritage in Kosovo-Metohija, which in the light of this attack seems hypocritical and cynical.

The Office for Kosovo-Metohija poses a question to Pristina, but first of all to the international community, especially to those countries that endorse Kosovo’s admission in the UN Organisation for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) – how many more Serbian holy sites need to be desecrated, burnt and destroyed so that they would understand that those who have demolished hundreds of Serbian temples cannot take care of our churches and monasteries?

The Office for Kosovo-Metohija requests from the relevant authorities of Pristina and the international community in Kosovo-Metohija to publicly condemn yesterday’s attack on the church in Orahovac and bring before justice the four Albanian youths who threw the stones as soon as possible.

The Serbian government will continue to make every effort to ensure safety to the Serbian people in the province, as well as protection and all possible care for our cultural heritage, it is said in the statement.