Paschal joy in Lipljan

KiM Info Newsletter 26-04-06

KIM Info Service, Lipljan, April 24, 2006

With the blessing of the diocesan hierarch, the hegumen (abbot) of Visoki Decani Monastery and Auxiliary Bishop of Lipljan Teodosije served Holy Hierarchal Liturgy today, on Resurrection Monday, in the church of the Holy Martyrs Florus and Laurus in Lipljan.

"I feel great joy to be here today among the honorable and noble people of famous Lipljan, once the ancient diocese of St. Sava, whose name I bear as vicar bishop," said Bishop Teodosije in his address to the people, who greeted him in great number to share the joy of Christ's Resurrection with him.

After reading the Paschal Epistle of Bishop Artemije of Raska and Prizren in the church overflowing with the faithful, Bishop Teodosije in his own homily encouraged those present to stay in their centuries-old homes in Kosovo and Metohija, and to faithfully guard the covenant of the Holy Prince Lazar.

"We must not look behind us and count how long we have lasted and what we have suffered through. We must always look forward at our goal. If we started well but did not persist and endure to the end and reach our goal, we will not have the wreath of life given to us by the Lord," said Bishop Teodosije. He also pointed out the significance "of Christ's Resurrection, which shows us that our true homeland is the Kingdom of Heaven, which is not of this world and which we win in our hearts through the Holy Mysteries and holy virtues". The Bishop also called on the faithful to remain faithful to the Church and to gather in their churches which "like spiritual lighthouses show us the way toward a future Kingdom and maintain us in a community of the faithful people of God - the Church of Christ".

The Bishop of Lipljan presented gifts and monetary assistance valued at some 6,000 euros to more than 300 children from Lipljan and the surrounding villages who gathered in the church for Holy Liturgy as a gift from Orthodox faithful in the United States of America through the Decani Monastery Relief Fund (DMRF) and other donations. Bishop Teodosije also said that "children represent the future of Kosovo and Metohija and that all of us in Kosovo today have a great responsibility so that they can grow up in peace and joy, like their peers elsewhere in the world". The Bishop called on parents to bring their children to church services regularly "for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven" (Mat 19:14).

After Holy Hierarchal Liturgy in Lipljan Bishop Teodosije visited the monasteries of Gracanica and Gorioc near Istok to wish the sisterhoods of these monasteries a happy paschal holiday. The next day, on Resurrection Tuesday, the Bishop of Lipljan will be serving Holy Hierarchal Liturgy in the monastery of the Pec Patriarchate with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Pavle.

Raskovic: Border issues are discussed by states

Radio Television Serbia, Tuesday, April 25, 2006 17:51

Commenting on Kosovo premier Agim Cheku's announcement that "Kosovo does not recognize the border agreement of Serbia-Montenegro and Macedonia with respect to that part which pertains to Kosovo," Coordinating Center for Kosovo and Metohija president Sandra Raskovic-Ivic warned that border issues are discussed by states, not by national minorities.

"The first thing that is obvious is that Cheku already feels like the premier of an independent and internationally recognized state of Kosovo, which, I would like to remind, is not the case and Serbia will never accept anything of the sort. Cheku is forgetting that border issues are discussed by states, which is what Serbia-Montenegro and Macedonia have done, and not by national minorities, regardless of their numerical presence in specific regions," assessed Raskovic-Ivic.

In response to Cheku's statement that he wants good relations with Serbia and that he expects the Belgrade government "to distance itself from the past and the Serbs to apologize for the horrific crimes in Kosovo," Raskovic-Ivic said that she agreed to pass through this phase but that apologies should start from crimes committed during the period from 1941 to the present day.

"Apologies should cover the crimes which Albanian armed formations on the side of the [Axis] occupiers committed against Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija. Someone should apologize for the systematic terror, murder and expulsion of Serbs numbering in the hundreds of thousands who were expelled from Kosovo and Metohija after the liberation [following World War II] to the present day."

As far as Cheku's statement that he expects "the Belgrade government to find thousands of missing Albanians" is concerned, Raskovic-Ivic warned that Cheku is manipulating the facts with regard to missing persons and pointed that according to the latest data, which is not disputed by the international community, there are less than 100 killed Albanians remaining in Serbia.

Raskovic-Ivic reminded that she is expecting the Kosovo provisional government to reveal the fate and find the bodies of 750 Serbs who are still missing.

In Kosovo negotiations Serbia insists on preserving state territory

RELIEF WEB (SWITZERLAND)

Source: Government of Serbia
Date: 22 Apr 2006

Belgrade, April 22, 2006 - Advisor to the Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Simic said today that the requests of Serbia in the negotiations on the future status of Kosovo and Metohija are the preservation of the state territory, inviolability of borders and the province's demilitarisation.

Simic, who is a member of Serbia's negotiating team in the talks on the future status of Kosovo, told the television Palma Plus from Jagodina that Serbia will come up very soon with a complete proposal for the province's future position.

He explained that that position will be very serious and strong and that the province will have a much wider autonomy in many respects in relation to those prescribed by the Constitution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1974.

According to him, that position will enable ethnic Albanians "to essentially manage their own affairs and Belgrade will not order them what to do."

However, he stressed that for the Serbian side, Kosovo Prime Minister Agim Ceku is an "absolutely unacceptable collocutor" in the talks on the province's future status, because he is charged by Serbian courts with serious war crimes and serious violations of international law.

Simic added that Ramus Haradinaj and Hasim Taci are also unacceptable for Serbia as negotiators because the first is indicted by the Hague tribunal for war crimes, while the second has been validly convicted by a domestic court.

He concluded that the negotiations on the province's status will actually be negotiations on the level of substantial autonomy of Kosovo-Metohija within Serbia.

Shooting reported over attempted property seizure in Kosovo Serb village

BBC Monitoring Europe (Political) - April 23, 2006, Sunday

Text of report by Montenegrin Mina news agency

Pristina, 23 April: An armed group of unidentified persons this morning around 0100 [2300 gmt] attacked the house owned by Danilo Dzolic in Tucep village near Istok in Kosovo.

Nobody was injured during the attack, but material damage was inflicted on the house in which Dzolic and his wife were at the time of the attack.

The attackers probably wanted to steal Dzolic's tractor given that four similar vehicles had already been stolen from the village.

The inhabitants of Tucep chased the attackers away firing shots from hunting weapons which members of the Kosovo Police Service and Kfor [NATO-led Kosovo Force] today confiscated during their investigation.

Source: Mina news agency, Podgorica, in Serbian 1126 gmt 23 Apr 06

Three attacks on Serbs reported in Kosovo

BBC Monitoring Europe (Political) - April 24, 2006, Monday

Text of report in English by Belgrade-based Radio B92 text website on 24 April

Pristina, 24 April: Two more Serbian homes were attacked over the weekend in Kosovo.

Yesterday afternoon, a group of young Albanians shattered the windows of Milovan Bozovic's home in the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica. Living in the home is a refugee from Prizren, Miroslava Repic. Later in the day, rocks were thrown at a vehicle belonging to a Serb in Suvi Do, an attack confirmed by the Kosovo police. The Kosovo Police Service said that other than material damage, there were no other consequences of these attacks.

Yesterday morning, a group of unidentified, armed attackers shot at the home of Danilo Dzolic in the Kosovo village of Tucep, near Istok.

Dzolic's wife was in the home at the time, but did not sustain any injuries. The house did suffer material damage, however. Serbian sources from the village said that the attackers were most likely looking to steal Dzolic's tractor, because at least four tractors have been stolen from the village recently.

Tucep villagers scared the attackers away by firing shots from their hunting guns, which were confiscated later on by the KPS [Kosovo Police Service] and Kfor [NATO-led Kosovo peacekeeping force] during the investigation. Many people in the village say that they are afraid that the attacks on their village will continue.

Source: Radio B92 text website, Belgrade, in English 1114 gmt 24 Apr 0

Explosion rocks divided Kosovo town

BBC Monitoring International Reports - April 19, 2006, Wednesday

Text of report in English by Belgrade-based Radio B92 text website on 19 April

Kosovska Mitrovica, 19 April: The citizens of Kosovska Mitrovica were shaken
by a strong explosion last night.

The explosion occurred at about 2100 [1900 gmt] last night. Officials of the
Kosovo Police Service, Kfor [NATO-led peacekeeping force] and UNMIK [UN
interim administration] are investigating in the Bosnjacka Mahala community,
located in the northern [mainly Serb-populated] part of the city, trying to
confirm the exact location at which the explosive device was detonated.

This is the second incident involving an explosive device in the past four
days in Kosovska Mitrovica.

Source: Radio B92 text website, Belgrade, in English 1014 gmt 19 Apr 06

Serbia charges eight policemen with Kosovo killing

Reuters, Tue Apr 25, 2006 09:40 AM ET

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbia charged eight former policemen on Tuesday with the 1999 killing of 48 Kosovo Albanians, the first charges stemming from the discovery of hundreds of bodies in a mass grave near Belgrade.

All but one of the victims were from the same family, herded into a cafe in the town of Suva Reka during the 1998-99 war in Kosovo and shot dead. They included 13 children and a pregnant woman, Belgrade media reported.

"Serbia's war crimes prosecutor accuses them of killing 48 people, all but Abdulah Esljani members of the Berisha family, on March 26, 1999 in Suva Reka, in Kosovo," said a statement from the office of the Serbian war crimes prosecutor.

All those charged have been in custody since October and five were on active police duty when arrested. They include former Suva Reka police chief Radoje Repanovic and the former deputy commander of the Serbian gendarmerie, Radoslav Mitrovic.

The killings took place two days after NATO launched its 78-day bombing campaign to drive Serb forces from the southern Serbian province, accusing them of atrocities against Albanian civilians in a two-year war with separatist guerrillas.

The bodies were among more than 800 trucked north from Kosovo and buried in pits on a police training ground just outside Belgrade and in eastern Serbia.

Irrefutable proof of a bid to rid the scene of the crime of evidence of atrocities, they were unearthed in 2001 after reformists ousted former Serb strongman Slobodan Milosevic.

Tuesday's indictment was the first stemming from the gruesome discovery and comes as the United Nations is steering Serbia and the Kosovo Albanians through negotiations to decide the future of Kosovo, which has been run by the U.N. since 1999.

The United Nations hopes to complete the talks by the end of the year, with the 90-percent ethnic Albanian majority pushing for independence.

An estimated 10,000 Kosovo Albanians died in the war, and 800,000 more fled into neighboring Albania and Macedonia.

Belgrade currently faces a new end-of-month deadline to hand over top war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic to the United Nations war crimes tribunal or face a freeze on negotiations with the European Union on closer ties.

Serbia's special war crimes court, set up three years ago to show Serbia is ready to face up to its bloodstained path, has pledged to prosecute lower-level perpetrators the U.N. tribunal in The Hague does not have the time or resources to deal with.

Serbs (continue) to sell their property

B92, Belgrade, April 21, 2006

Kosovo Polje - Negotiations on the status of Kosovo are ignoring the fact that many Serb owned houses in Kosovo are for sale.

In the village of Bresje, some 10 km. from Kosovo Polje, several tens of houses are for sale. After meeting with Bishop Teodosije, the UNMIK chief promised he would devote more attention to this problem.

In the meanwhile, the sale of houses continues. Several times local residents of this village planned to set out for central Serbia and abandon their homes but in the end they gave up. Now the village is for sale. Tens of households have placed signs in front of their houses inviting potential buyers.

Jelica Mihajlovic, born in Bresje, where she also married and started a family, says the decision to sell the house was not an easy one. "When I leave for [central] Serbia tomorrow, I will just die. My family has been here for centuries. My heart aches." The Cicmil family also decided to sell its property and move to Serbia. They say their decision is final and that it is too late to do anything to change it. "This is not life anymore. Once we passed freely through Kosovo Polje but now we do not dare."

There are also people who are against selling in Bresje but they are in the minority. Although they are concerned by the situation in the village, they are neverthless hoping that Serbia will create conditions for the lasting survival of Serbs in Kosovo.

Kosovo Polje municipality, by decision of UNMIK, is located in a special zone, where anyone wishing to sell their house and notarize the contract [of sale] in court must first obtain agreement from the municipal civil administrator. Local residents say that the issuance of permits [to sell] is a relatively simple process and that it has not posed a problem for signing the contracts of sale.

Tires on UNMIK jeeps punctured

Beta News Agency, Belgrade, April 21, 2006

Pristina - Activists of the Kosovo Albanian movement "Self-determination" have punctured the tires on some 20 UNMIK jeeps.

The jeeps were parked across the street from the building housing the international administration in Pristina. The activists are demanding the end of the presence of the UN Mission. At the time UNMIK chief Soren Jessen-Petersen was meeting with Portugese president Hanibal Cavaco Silva in the building. Utilizing the existing UN signs on the jeeps, the activists changed them to read "FUND", which means "END" in Albanian.

Members of "Self-determination" also stuck signs on some jeeps that said "End insufferable slavery" and "End daily repression".

"Self-determination" is headed by former Albanian student leader Albin Kurti. The movement opposes direct negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina in resolving the future status of Kosovo.

Ceku says Kosovo doesn't recognize border agreement

Makfax news agency, Skopje, 25.04.2006 11:29

Pristina - The border agreement signed by Skopje and Belgrade in 2001 is invalid and Kosovo's government does not recognize it, Kosovo's Prime Minister Agim Ceku said after the meeting with Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA) leader Arben Xhaferi.

Media in Pristina and Tirana quote Ceku as saying that demarcation of Macedonia-Kosovo border will be addressed in an appropriate momentum after the resolution of Kosovo's political status.

As regards border demarcation, DPA leader Xhaferi said the issue should be solved in accordance with Contact Group instructions. /end/

Pascha festively celebrated in Kosovo and Metohija

KiM Info Newsletter 24-04-06

KIM Info Service, Decani, April 23, 2006

The feast of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ was festively celebrated throughout Kosovo and Metohija today. In Gracanica Monastery His Grace Bishop Artemije of Raska and Prizren served the vigil service and Holy Hierarchal Liturgy with the concelebration of the clergy and priest-monks of the Diocese of Raska-Prizren and Kosovo-Metohija. A large number of faithful from Gracanica and all of central Kosovo attended the services, once again gathering this year at the monastery to celebrate this most joyous of Christian holidays with their bishop.

In Visoki Decani Monastery Bishop Teodosije of Lipljan served the paschal vigil service and Holy Hierarchal Liturgy with the hieromonks of Decani. The service, which began exactly at midnight with a formal religious procession around the church and the reading of the paschal Gospel, continued until five o'clock in the morning with Holy Liturgy where almost all the faithful in attendance partook in communion. In addition to pilgrims who came to the monastery from various parts of Serbia, Serbs from the returnee villages near Pec also attended the religious service. Adding to the joy was the presence of some fifty Romanian soldiers and policemen serving in Kosovo and Metohija, who together with the their Italian and other colleagues from KFOR and UNMIK police also attended the service. Parts of the ceremony were periodically served in the Romanian language, and the church echoed alternatingly with the joyous greeting Hristos Vaskrse - Hristos Inviat (Christ Is Risen).

Bishop Teodosije read the paschal epistle of His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Pavle, whose message to the faithful was "that after crucifixion comes resurrection, and that there is no joy of new life without the tomb from which dawns life in Jesus Christ". His Holiness and the Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church called on the faithful in Kosovo and Metohija to remain true to the covenants of their holy ancestors and to survive in their centuries-old homes despite all difficulties.

VISIT OF HIGH INTERNATIONAL AND KOSOVO OFFICIALS TO DECANI MONASTERY

Around noon Visoki Decani Monastery received a visit from UNMIK chief Soren Jessen-Petersen, who was accompanied by KFOR commander general Giuseppe Valotto, Kosovo president Fatmir Sejdiu and Decani mayor Nazmi Selmanaj. Representatives of the diplomatic missions in Pristina, including the U.S.A., Russia, Germany and Italy also came to the monastery, as well as representatives of OSCE and the EU. Among the guests who also came to wish a happy Pascha were SLKM representatives Oliver Ivanovic and Randjel Nojkic. Bishop Teodosije received the high guests and showed them the church before they were served in the monastery library. On behalf of the UN International Mission Mr. Petersen wished a happy holiday to the monastery brotherhood and to all Orthodox Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija. Kosovo president Fatmir Sejdiu also conveyed his own holiday best wishes on the occasion of Pascha with the wish that all citizens of Kosovo live in peace and tolerance. President Sejdiu expressed his special respect toward Visoki Decani Monastery, as well as toward all other Orthodox holy shrines in Kosovo, which, he said, "are the wealth of all citizens of Kosovo".

Bishop Teodosije expressed his sincere thanks to the international and Kosovo officials for their holiday wishes, emphasizing that "the feast of the Resurrection is the feast of joy, hope and optimism, which inspires all of us to make even greater joint efforts in the spirit of understanding and tolerance in order to ensure a peaceful future and dignified life for everyone in Kosovo, especially those who are endangered". Bishop Teodosije mentioned that it is necessary for Kosovo institutions and UNMIK to give stronger support to Serb returnees who are slowly coming back to their homes. He specifically mentioned the Serbs in Klina, Bresje, Lipljan, Velika Hoca and Orahovac, who are demonstrating great courage and determination to stay and survive in their own homes. Bishop Teodosije said that the visit of Kosovo President is an extended hand of support and presented him with the books Kosovo Crucified and The March Pogrom, documents that talk about the persecution and suffering of the people and holy shrines, with the wish that nothing similar is ever repeated. "There have always been those who destroy and those who built. Today it is up to us all to make the joint effort to restore what has been destroyed and bring back the pre-war splendor of these holy shrines."

After the discussion in the monastery library and the departure of President Sejdiu, the international guests joined the formal paschal banquet together with the faithful and other guests.

CELEBRATION OF THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST IN GORIOC MONASTERY

The atmosphere was festive today in Gorioc Monastery near Istok where Hieromonk Danilo (Kandic) of Decani served Holy Liturgy. For the first time in years the celebration of the Resurrection of the Lord was attended by the first Serb returnees to Istok and Djurakovac (11 Serbs from Istok and 17 from Djurakovac) who are expecting to move into a collective center in the near future while waiting for completion of the restoration of their homes.

PASCHAL LITURGY IN DEVIC MONASTERY

As in the previous two years the Resurrection of Christ was also celebrated in Devic Monastery in a church whose walls are still covered by soot and derisive graffiti from the March 2004 pogrom when the church and the monastery residence halls were torched. Protosingel Makarije (Ristic) of Decani served the paschal vigil service and Holy Liturgy. For security reasons, this year there was no faithful, who in previous years came to this holy shrine for Pascha and other feasts. Despite this the Devic nuns, full of paschal hope, filled the church with their joyful chanting.

Two incidents in Mitrovica, attack near Istok

FoNet, Beta News Agencies, Belgrade, April 23, 2006

This afternoon a group of Albanian young men smashed the windows on the house of Serb Milovan Bozovic in northern Kosovska Mitrovica.

The family of Miroslav Repic, Serb refugees from Prizren, are living in Bozovic's house. Somewhat later, at about 2:00 p.m. a vehicle owned by a Serb from Suvi Dol was stoned, Kosovo police confirmed. Sources in the Kosovo Police Service said that besides the material damage there were no other consequences.

A group of unknown armed persons attacked the house of Serb Danilo Dzolic in the Kosovo village of Tucep near Istok this morning at about 1:00 a.m.

No one was hurt in the attack but the house sustained material damage. Dzolic and his wife were at home at the time of the attack. Serb sources in Tucep said that the attackers probably wanted to steal Dzolic's tractor since at least four tractors have already been stolen in the village.

Local residents of Tucep chased the attackers away by firing shots from hunting rifles, which were confiscated today by members of the Kosovo Police Service and KFOR during the investigation. Serbs from this Metohija village expressed fear that the attacks may reoccur.

Paschal Message of Serbian Patriarch Pavle

KiM Info Newsletter 24-04-06

The Serbian Orthodox Church to her spiritual children at Pascha, 2006

P A V L E

By the grace of God
Orthodox Archbishop of Pec, Metropolitan of Belgrade-Karlovci and Serbian Patriarch, with the Hierarchs of the Serbian Orthodox Church – to all the clergy, monastics, and all the sons and daughters of our Holy Church: grace, mercy and peace from God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, with the joyous Paschal greeting:

CHRIST IS RISEN!

“Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad.
Let the whole world, visible and invisible,
keep the feast. For Christ is risen, our eternal joy.”
(Pascha hymn, Ode I)
 
The Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead is the main event in the salvation of mankind. With His Resurrection from the tomb, the Savior proclaimed victory over death – the last enemy of all people.

The Lord, the Lover of mankind, Who for our sake accepted the crucifixion and death, made us partakers of His victory over death. The human nature in the God-man Christ received death, but that same nature resurrected and brought victory over death. That victory, which the Lord accomplished in the body, brought freedom from death to all people; the freedom in which we rejoice even here and now through the Resurrection of our Savior.

The Lord Jesus Christ underwent death in His body so that with the victory over death and annihilation of decay, the power of resurrection could pass on to the human race. Through the first man, our forefather Adam, because of sin and the Fall, we inherited condemnation and death. But in the new Adam, our Lord Jesus Christ, we have inherited resurrection. Thus we commune in His Glory and partake of His unending Kingdom. Because the Savior was truly glorified through the Crucifixion and Resurrection, we openly testify that on the Cross in His human nature He truly suffered and died, for His redeeming work was crowned with a glory worthy of God. 

So why did God allow death, as Adam’s legacy, to still exist in this world? – People still die, but not as those condemned, nor for eternity, but for a finite time, so that they might receive a better resurrection. The God-man Christ is the first-born of the dead, and all people follow after Him as the First-born, because through His resurrection He has enlivened all of human nature. About this the Lord Himself testifies: "The hour is coming, and now is when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live…. And [they will] come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation." (John 5:25, 29)

The Resurrection event has such great significance for the entire universe that we call it a new creation. It caused change within all worlds, because from it begins the renewal of things. With it, the earth and the heaven are renewed and the Lord’s word is fulfilled: "Behold, I make all things new." (Rev. 21:5) The resurrection has a special meaning for the spiritual life of Christians, for all who believe in Christ rise with Him into new life and offer their physical and spiritual being to God as those brought from death to life. (Rom. 6:13)  We therefore elevate our thoughts today above earthly worries, as the Holy Apostle Paul says: "If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth." (Col. 3:1-2)

Everything which Christ said and did in accomplishing our salvation receives its full meaning in the Resurrection, but most especially suffering and death. Through the resurrection the wooden cross of the crucifixion became a symbol of victory and glory, and the mortal wounds of our Lord became fountains of healing through which we receive eternal life, knowledge of God, and the love for mankind of our resurrected Savior. This is why all God-pleasing efforts of the faithful, most especially holy service to God and for the salvation of our loved ones, and all expressions of  Gospel piety, find their significance in the resurrection of our Lord.

The resurrection of Christ was called Pascha even in the old days. The Old Testament Pascha, the main Feastday of the chosen people of God, points to the New Testement Pascha, new and eternal, in both name and essence. Pascha means to pass over, and the Church on Pascha glorifies Christ, by whose Resurrection we pass from death to life, and from earth to heaven. The Old Testament Pascha celebrated the temporal deliverance from death of a small nation under the leadership of the prophet Moses, while the New Testament Pascha offers eternal deliverance to all believing peoples through all generations. According to the law of Moses, the Paschal meal was prepared with lamb. Christ’s Pascha means that the Lamb of God voluntarily sacrificed and offered Himself as food to the faithful. That is why St. Paul the apostle, advising us to boldly approach the paschal banquet table and the "throne of grace" (Heb. 4:16) said: "For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us." (1 Cor. 5:7) The celebration of the New Testament Pascha of the Cross and Resurrection is established in the Mystery of Lord’s Body and Blood, which builds the Divine-human community and the unity of the faithful: "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread." (1 Cor. 10:16-17)

The resurrection of Christ is the Feast of Feasts because it most deeply expresses the Church’s life. Not just today, but every Sunday of the year as the day of resurrection, gathers together the faithful in the Church, in the community of the Lord’s Banquet.

We experience the resurrection of Christ, our dear spiritual children, as the manifestation of the eternal light which enlightens not only people’s souls but the whole of creation. "Today everything is filled with light, the heaven, earth and things below," we sing in the resurrectional hymn. The first week after the Resurrection is permeated with light, and this is why it is called Bright Week: it is entirely filled with the glory of Resurrection and therefore it is celebrated as one day. This eternal light is, through the living body of the Church, passed on to the life of us all, to our thoughts and deeds, so that we live with a new life.

On this radiant Feast, we wholeheartedly offer our thanks to the Lord Who in these stormy times has revealed Himself as the Way, the Truth, and the Life, to our young generations. We especially rejoice in seeing that our young ones, through the glorified body of Christ and His Church, are finding joy and the imperishable essence of a new and eternal life.

At the same time, we are deeply aware of the painful truth of the modern world that the young ones, in great numbers, are becoming victims of narcotics, false saviors and teachings harmful to the soul. This kind of life deprives them of a happy youth and the joy of life. Worst of all is the continuation of child-killing (abortion), as well as mindless attacks on the sanctity of family life and community. The worrisome spiritual and moral crisis and biological perishing of almost all Christian nations — and among them, unfortunately, our own Serbian people — are not only consequences of economic insecurity and societal disarray, but stem above all from estrangement from the God of love and from the Church, which by the grace of the Holy Spirit establishes and exemplifies eternal communion among people. Truthfully sharing all temptations and suffering with our people in these Bright Paschal days, we pass on to all of you the angelic greeting from the tomb of the Resurrected Christ: "Rejoice!" With His resurrectional light, the Lord enlightens even those who have wandered away into the darkness of spiritual gloom. He gives life and joy to all the saddened, forsaken and sinners through repentance, faith, hope and love—through their joyous return to the maternal embrace of the Church.

In these days of the Cross and Resurrection we most deeply co-suffer with our brothers and sisters in Kosovo and Metohija. They through the centuries, but most especially in the last few years, have gone through and continue to go through thorny sufferings and daily crucifixions, awaiting with uncertainty the political decisions on which their and their children’s future will depend. To them we, in the spirit of the Gospel, send the message that after crucifixion comes resurrection, and that there is no joy of new life without the tomb from which dawns life in Jesus Christ. We call upon them to be faithful to the tradition of the Holy Tsar Lazar and stay in their homeland regardless of the threats of those blinded by hatred. Kosovo and Metohija is the land of the oath by which the Serbian people bound themselves to Christ and entered into the priestly community of the People of God. We pray to God for a quick granting of His peace to the suffering Kosovo and Metohija through mutual understanding by the Serbian and Albanian communities, employing agreed declarations that guarantee life, peace, liberty, and dignity to all people.

We express our joy and thanks to our Resurrected Lord for the release of His Beatitude Archbishop of Ohrid and Metropolitan of Skoplje Jovan from a dark prison cell. Most especially we rejoice that he voluntarily accepted this humiliation for Christ and truthfully endured it, sacrificing himself to help overcome a ghastly schism between brothers of faith. With hope and patience, we call upon our brothers in schism to put the unity of the Church above all earthly goals. We hope that they will come out of the dungeon of the schism into the light of canonical and Eucharistic unity of the Church in Resurrected Christ, the Victorious One over death and every division.

With fatherly love we call upon our Orthodox brothers and sisters in Montenegro, and on all people of good will, to preserve mutual peace and unity both before and after the forthcoming referendum. At the same time, we remind all that the Orthodox Faith safeguards and builds freedom for every person, and likewise promotes unity among peoples and nations. Freedom and human and brotherly good cannot be built anywhere, and especially in Njegos’ Montenegro, through pressure on people’s consciences, bribery, and threats; but through a free expression of will and with full responsibility for the future of one’s descendants.

Dear spiritual children in the Diaspora, the joy of this Feast brings us together with you regardless of earthly distances. Always rejoice in your holy Church, because she deeply connects you with the heavenly and irreplaceable earthly homeland. Be good citizens of the countries in which you live, and faithful and active members of your Church. Cultivate your Serbian language! This is the language of your ancestors and the language of  Serbian culture and spirituality, but most of all, the language of our Liturgical worship.

Witnessing in the joy of the Holy Orthodox Faith that nothing "can separate us from the love of God," (Rom. 8:39) which eternally renews our imperishable communion; we congratulate you, dear spiritual children, on this Feast of Feasts, with the most joyous greeting:

Christ Is Risen!

Indeed He Is Risen!

Given at the Serbian Patriarchate in Belgrade at Pascha 2006.

Your prayerful intercessors before the Crucified and Resurrected Lord:

Archbishop of Pec, Metropolitan of Belgrade-Karlovci and Serbian Patriarch PAVLE
Metropolitan of Zagreb and Ljubljana JOVAN
Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Coastlands AMPHILOHIJE
Metropolitan of Midwestern America CHRISTOPHER
Metropolitan of Dabro-Bosna NIKOLAJ
Bishop of Shabac-Valjevo LAVRENTIJE
Bishop of Nish IRINEJ
Bishop of Zvornik-Tuzla VASILIJE
Bishop of Srem VASILIJE
Bishop of Banja Luka JEFREM
Bishop of Budim LUKIJAN
Bishop of Canada GEORGIJE
Bishop of Banat NIKANOR
Bishop for America and Canada (New Gracanica Metropolitanate) and
Administrator of the Western American Diocese LONGIN
Bishop of Eastern America MITROPHAN
Bishop of Zica CHRYSOSTOM
Bishop of Backa IRINEJ
Bishop of Great Britain and Scandinavia DOSITEJ
Bishop of Ras and Prizren ARTEMIJE
Retired Bishop of Zahumlje and Hercegovina ATANASIJE
Bishop of Bihac and Petrovac CHRYSOSTOM
Bishop of Osijek and Baranja LUKIJAN
Bishop of Central Europe CONSTANTINE
Bishop of Western Europe LUKA
Bishop of Timok JUSTIN
Bishop of Vranje PAHOMIJE
Bishop of Sumadija JOVAN
Bishop of Slavonia SAVA
Bishop of Branicevo IGNATIJE
Bishop of Milesevo FILARET
Bishop of Dalmatia FOTIJE
Bishop of Budimlje and Niksic JOANIKIJE
Bishop of Zahumlje and Hercegovina GRIGORIJE
Bishop of Australia and New Zealand (New Gracanica Metropolitanate) and
Administrator of the Diocese of Australia and New Zealand MILUTIN
Bishop of Gornji Karlovci GERASIM
Vicar Bishop of Hvostno ATANASIJE
Vicar Bishop of Jegar PORFIRIJE
Vicar Bishop of Lipljan TEODOSIJE
Vicar Bishop of Dioclea JOVAN
Vicar Bishop of Hum MAKSIM
The Orthodox Archdiocese of Ochrid:
Archbishop of Ochrid and Metropolitan of Skoplje JOVAN
Bishop of Polos and Kumanovo JOAKIM
Bishop of Dremvic and locum tenens of the Diocese of Bitolj MARKO.

(Path of Orthodoxy Translation)

2 killed, 7 wounded in Kosovo shootout

Associated Press, Apr 22, 2006 9:27 AM

PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro-Two ethnic Albanians were killed and seven were wounded Saturday in a shootout between two families allegedly over a property dispute, police said.

The exchange of gunfire occurred in the town of Stimlje, 25 kilometers (15 miles) southwest of Kosovo's capital Pristina following an argument, said Violeta Elezaj, a police spokeswoman.

Among the dead was the town's deputy mayor, Vezir Bajrami, an official from the opposition Democratic Party of Kosovo, the party's spokeswoman said.

Most of the injured were being treated at a hospital. Several suspects were arrested, Elezaj said, adding that police suspect the motive of the incident was a property dispute.

Kosovo, formally a province of Serbia-Montenegro, has been administered by the United Nations since mid-1999, following a NATO air war that halted Serb forces' crackdown on ethnic Albanians seeking independence.

Haradin Bala granted temporary provisional release

ICTY, The Hague, 21 April 2006

 

Press Release (Exclusively for the use of the media. Not an official document)

 

CT/MOW/1070e

 

The Appeals Chamber granted Haradin Bala's motion for temporary provisional release to attend his daughter's memorial service on 26 April 2006 in Kosovo. Haradin Bala is provisionally released from 23 to 27 April 2006, to allow him to spend the traditional mourning period with his family and community preceding the memorial service.

 

The provisional release is subject to specific terms and conditions laid out in the decision. They include UNMIK's responsibility to take custody of the accused at Pristina airport and ensure his 24-hour protection and supervision, as well as compliance with conditions of the provisional release while he is in Kosovo. These conditions also include the following instructions for Haradin Bala:

 

a.. Not to have any contact whatsoever nor in any way interfere with victims or witnesses or otherwise interfere in any way with the proceedings or the administration of justice;Not to discuss his case with anyone, other than counsel, including not to have any contact with the media;Not to seek access to documents or archives;To comply strictly with any instructions given to him by anyone acting under the authority of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General (UNMIK);To comply strictly with any order of the Appeals Chamber varying the terms of, or terminating, his provisional release;

 

On 30 November 2005, the Trial Chamber sentenced Haradin Bala, former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) prison guard of the Llapushnik/Lapusnik prison camp, to 13 years' imprisonment. Bala was found guilty of participating in the mistreatment of three prisoners at the Llapushnik/Lapusnik prison camp, his personal role in the "maintenance and enforcement of the inhumane conditions" of the camp, aiding the torture of one prisoner, and of participating in the murder of nine prisoners from the camp who were marched to the Berishe/Berisa Mountains on 25 or 26 July 1998 and killed. Bala appealed the sentence and the appeal is still pending.Haradin Bala was indicted with Fatmir Limaj and Isak Musliu, former members of the KLA. Both Limaj and Musliu were acquitted of all charges and released. The Prosecution has filed an appeal in the case.Since its inception in 1993, the Tribunal has charged 161 persons for war crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia. To date, proceedings against 90 persons have concluded. Six indicted persons remain at large.

Tribunal charges first Albanians

BBC, 2003/02/20 15:13:43 GMT

 

Three ethnic Albanians from Kosovo have entered pleas of not guilty to charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the international war crimes tribunal. The men, Haradin Balaj, Isak Musliu and Agim Murtezi, were arrested on Monday and are the first Albanians to be charged by the tribunal.

 

They are all former members of the disbanded guerrilla group the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).

 

Together with a fourth man, Fatmir Limaj, who is currently under arrest in Slovenia, they are accused of torturing and killing Serb and Albanian prisoners in the late 1990s. Mr Limaj is being held in Slovenia, waiting to be transferred to The Hague.

 

Extradition pending

 

The four are accused of routinely beating and torturing 35 Serbian or Albanian inmates at the KLA's Lapusnik Prison.

 

In addition, when the camp was overrun in July 1998, they allegedly took some of the inmates to the mountains where Mr Balaj and Mr Murtezi are accused of shooting 11 of them dead. The fate of two others is unknown.

 

The tribunal said in a statement on Wednesday that Mr Limaj was arrested on Tuesday afternoon in Kranjska Gora, near the border with Italy and Austria. He will be extradited to The Hague when the Slovenian authorities receive the tribunal's indictment against him.

 

Mr Limaj flew out of Kosovo on a business trip on Friday despite an arrest warrant issued against him and the three others three weeks ago.

 

The chief prosecutor at the war crimes tribunal, Carla del Ponte, criticised the international peacekeeping force, K-For, for allowing Mr Limaj to avoid arrest.

 

Arrests welcomed

 

The Hague tribunal has been accused in the past of turning a blind eye to war crimes committed by ethnic Albanians in Kosovo during their 1998-99 conflict with Belgrade.

 

Representatives of the minority Serb community in Kosovo welcomed the arrests.

 

"The Serb people have been resignedly awaiting justice for three years now," said a statement by the Serbian National Council of Kosovo-Metohija, quoted by the Serbian news agency FoNet.

 

"Finally, the latest actions by K-For and the UN security bodies give us hope that justice is not blind after all and that it is not one-sided, as it seemed for years."

 

ICTY acquittal of Albanian war-crime suspects does not serve justice and reconciliation in Kosovo and Metohija

SERBIAN UNITY CONGRESS (USA)

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 6, 2005

 

CONTACT: Andy Verich 202-463-8643

 

The Serbian Unity Congress (SUC) hereby expresses its deep disappointment with circumstances surrounding the November 30 ICTY verdict regarding the gruesome crimes by Kosovo Albanian separatists (KLA) at the Lapusnik prison camp, and the consequent acquittal of the top two out of three suspects due to alleged lack of evidence of their involvement.

 

Significantly, the Trial Chamber determined the existence of a KLA-run prison camp for civilians, the execution of at least 12 loyalist Yugoslav citizens of both Albanian and Serbian ethnicity and the fact that scores of others were subjected to "crimes of torture" and "cruel treatment." However, the present judgment appears contradictory, given the ICTY's liberal interpretation of proof "beyond reasonable doubt" within its accepted principle of chain-of-command responsibility (particularly for alleged Serb-perpetrated crimes), and thus strengthens suspicions about the court's impartiality.

 

On a broader plain, the ruling begs a more important question: beyond prison guard Haradin Bala acting on orders, who then is responsible for the proven horrific crimes against civilians in an organized camp run by a military organization, the acknowledged backbone of today's Kosovo Albanian political elite? If indeed Fatmir Limaj and Isak Musliu are not the KLA commanders responsible for the Lapusnik crimes (among many others) - can't the organizational structure of the KLA easily be ascertained by today's leading Kosovo politicians, who were among its founding fathers and leaders, and are now nominally committed to truth, justice and standards?

 

The SUC considers equally disturbing the reaction of the current Kosovo Albanian political class to the said judgment. Far from any concerns about the culprits of this and other hideous crimes, "moderate" Kosovo president Ibrahim Rugova set the tone, immediately stating that "today's trial justifies the liberation struggle of Kosovo Albanians against Serbian occupation, the righteousness of the struggle for freedom and independence." He had nothing to say about the dozens of crime victims, yet expressed the hope that "not all legal possibilities have been exhausted" for freeing the sentenced Bala as well; other Kosovo Albanian leaders followed, praising the decision on the eve of status negotiations. With such moderates, who needs extremists? Utter disdain by the nominal head of the province for all his subjects who don't share an extreme secessionist vision increasingly casts this conflict away from the "Pristina vs. Belgrade" cliché into one of simple intolerance vs. compromise.

 

The implications of this heightened intolerance are not just a matter of late 1990s history, but have profound present relevance on the highly important standards implementation at the eve of future status talks for the UN-administered Serbian province. Just two days after the ICTY verdict, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) published a report asserting the devastating effects of lacking accountability for the well-known 2004 pogrom of Serbs and other non-Albanians, stating:

 

"The justice system failed to send out a clear message to the population condemning this type of violence [...] This relatively weak response ... not only contributes to the impression of impunity among the population for such kinds of ethnically motivated crimes but may also be considered inadequate to prevent similar acts of public disorder in the future".

 

In light of all these facts, and in the interest of genuine reconciliation and stability, the SUC calls on UNMIK and the International Community at large to seriously reconsider plans to fully hand over control over the judiciary to Kosovo's interim institutions (PISG) with the creation of justice and police ministries.

 

Furthermore, the SUC continues to maintain that lasting stability and prosperity in the Balkans are possible, just like elsewhere, only with factional reconciliation, which in turn requires truth and justice. Both the ICTY Lapusnik verdict, and the mindset of current Kosovo Albanian leaders displayed in its aftermath, are certain to obstruct this challenging process.

UN court acquits top Kosovo rebel

BBC, 2005/11/30 22:31:54 GMT

 

A UN court in The Hague has cleared a former Kosovo Albanian rebel commander of war crimes charges relating to the conflict with Serb forces in 1998.

 

The acquittal of Fatmir Limaj, 34, was greeted with street celebrations in the Kosovo capital, Pristina.

 

Mr Limaj's co-accused, Isak Musliu, was also cleared of all charges.

 

A third man, Haradin Bala, was found guilty of war crimes. He becomes the first Kosovo Albanian to be convicted by the UN's war crimes court.

 

Bala will serve a 13-year jail term for the mistreatment and murder of Serb civilian prisoners and their alleged Albanian collaborators.

 

Celebratory gunfire

 

The UN court was set up to try war crimes and crimes against humanity from the conflicts that accompanied the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

 

Several Serbs, Croats and Bosnian Muslims have already been jailed by the court.

 

The tribunal has been criticised for bias against Serbs and for not bringing more ethnic Albanians to trial, reports the BBC's Hague correspondent, Geraldine Coghlan.

 

Prosecutors at the court say it is hard for them to build indictments against Kosovo Albanians because witnesses are afraid of coming forward.

 

Kosovo Albanian politicians praised the decision to acquit Mr Limaj, a former commander in the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).

 

"The verdict proves that our war against the Serb occupation and for independence for our country, and our hopes placed in international justice, were justified," Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova said.

 

The province's Prime Minister, Bajram Kosumi, said the verdict "proves that Limaj and his compatriots had just one goal in their lives - the freedom of Kosovo".

 

In Pristina, crowds celebrated the verdict with gunfire and the tooting of car horns, reports say.

 

Executing prisoners

 

However, politicians in the Serbian capital, Belgrade, have attacked the verdict.

 

Presidential adviser Jovan Simic told Serb TV the court decision sends out "a very bad message".

 

 Mr Limaj, Mr Musliu and Haradin Bala were the first Kosovo Albanians to be indicted.

 

Prosecutors had accused the three men of detaining 35 people - including Serbs and alleged Albanian collaborators - in the camp, where they were subjected to torture and inhumane conditions.

 

The three were also accused of executing several prisoners as they fled a Serb assault on the Lapusnik region.

 

The presiding judge, Kevin Parker, said the prosecution had successfully proven the existence of a prison camp at Lapusnik, near Pristina.

 

The judge said Bala's presence at the camp had been proven beyond any doubt, but there was not enough evidence to link Mr Limaj and Mr Musliu to the crimes committed there.

 

Final status talks

 

Three more Kosovo Albanians have since been indicted, including the former Prime Minister and guerrilla commander, Ramush Haradinaj, who is currently awaiting trial.

 

The KLA conducted a guerrilla war against Serb forces, whom they accused of launching a crackdown on the province's ethnic Albanian community.

 

A 78-day Nato air campaign in 1999 drove Serbian forces out of the province.

 

Kosovo has since been administered by the United Nations and Nato, though it technically remains a province of Serbia.

 

The area's Albanian majority wants full independence - but Belgrade has said it must remain part of Serbia.

 

The UN envoy to the province has said talks to resolve its final status must begin soon.

 

Witness Intimidation a Serious Problem in Kosovo

GLOBAL POLICY FORUM (USA), April 1, 2005, By Michael Farquhar, IWPR

 

As Kosovo prime minister Ramush Haradinaj awaits the opening of proceedings against him in The Hague, there are signs the tribunal's work with other Albanian indictees faces significant problems of witness intimidation.

 

Protected witness L-96 was called by Hague prosecutors to tell how, in the summer of 1998, he and other detainees of a brutal prison camp in the village of Lapusnik were lined up by an execution squad from the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA, in a clearing in the thickly wooded Berisa mountains. He told the court that he managed to flee through the trees in the same moment that the forest erupted with gunfire and screams. Given his experience, this witness clearly found it an ordeal to be sitting in a courtroom in The Hague - even though his identity was hidden from the public gallery. "Thank you... [for] mentioning names," he snapped, as the defence lawyer cross-examining him let slip another scrap of potentially identifying information. "I can tell you that I feel very much endangered now, even more so than in the past."

 

Supplying eyewitness testimony in a high profile international war crimes trial is bound to be a stressful experience. But four months into the United Nations court's first case against former members of the KLA, there are signs that Albanians who decide to testify face particular pressures. In July 2003, prosecutors reported that numerous potential witnesses in the case against three former KLA men accused of abuses and murders of detainees at the Lapusnik camp had either been "directly approached or have received messages or calls, and [have been] told that they will suffer retaliation if they testify in the case". One, they said, had to be relocated in a foreign country after KFOR, the NATO-led force in Kosovo, uncovered evidence of a plot to kill him.

 

Requesting last November that 12 witnesses in the Lapusnik case be allowed to testify under protective measures, prosecutors reported that most of these people had expressed serious concerns for their own safety and that of their family. "Witness intimidation is a serious problem throughout the former Yugoslavia," said Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte in a speech the same month to the North Atlantic Council in Brussels. "But in Kosovo it is widespread, systematic and potentially deadly."

 

Observers say the concern for witness safety - which has arisen in many other Hague trials but appears to have sprung up on an unprecedented scale in the Lapusnik case - can be attributed to the fragile rule of law in Kosovo, as well as to the historical emphasis the tightly-knit Albanian community has placed on loyalty, honour and retribution. International observers and Kosovo Serbs - including two who said they were held in the Lapusnik camp in 1998 - have felt comfortable enough to appear without protection to give evidence against the three accused, Fatmir Limaj, Isak Musliu and Haradin Bala. But almost every Albanian witness to appear so far - with just one exception - falls into one of two categories: former comrades of the accused, who have refused to testify until issued a subpoena by prosecutors; and others, mostly alleged victims, who have spoken under protective measures.

 

Those in the first category, who agreed to appear only under threat of prosecution, have tended to be as obstinate in court as one would expect. Some have seized the chance to proclaim their admiration for the accused and their conviction that the KLA was only ever a force for good. Many of them have frustrated prosecutors by distancing themselves from apparently incriminating evidence they gave in earlier private interviews with war crimes investigators, often blaming translation problems or confusion about dates and facts. It is unclear to what extent this behaviour arises from a genuine sense of solidarity among ex-members of the Albanian rebel army, and how much of it comes down to concerns about their own reputation at home if they are seen to incriminate the accused.

 

This second consideration was well-illustrated recently when prosecutor Alex Whiting asked a former KLA commander - who insisted the evidence he gave in a previous interview had been taken the wrong way - whether he had told an investigator he was "afraid" of testifying. The witness replied that he'd said he was concerned that his evidence might be "misunderstood" in Kosovo. The fears of other Albanians testifying in the case relate more directly to concerns about their lives. In July 2003, prosecutors reported that threats received by a number of potential witnesses in the Lapusnik trial were so serious that some had said they might not be willing to testify. Besides the 12 witnesses granted protective measures by judges in the Lapusnik case, a further 15 who are due to give written testimony on background matters such as KLA abductions are also referred to in public documents only by pseudonyms.

 

The majority of protected witnesses who have testified in court so far have been alleged victims of the crimes set out in the indictment. Two out of just three ex-KLA members who have appeared for the prosecution without being issued a subpoena have also opted to keep their identity concealed. In a further indication of the gravity of the problem, last October the Office of the Prosecutor filed a separate indictment against Beqe Beqaj, a relative of the accused Musliu, for trying to get two potential witnesses to pull out of the case. Beqaj apparently claimed to have spoken by phone with Musliu in the Hague detention unit and to be acting on his and Limaj's behalf.

 

Besides specific threats against witnesses in this particular trial, the reluctance of many Kosovo Albanians to testify publicly against Limaj and his co-accused undoubtedly also stems from the general atmosphere of intimidation in the protectorate. In Kosovo itself, two trials relating to crimes committed by the KLA during the conflict have so far been brought to a conclusion. In each case, the convictions were followed by a wave of violence - including the murders of three men who testified, explosions and vandalism targeting local police, and the murder of two policemen investigating the death of one witness.

 

The ex-KLA men convicted in one of these cases included Idriz Balaj, who has since been transferred from his Kosovo prison cell to The Hague to face a new set of charges, in the same trial as Ramush Haradinaj. Even setting aside these highly politicised local trials, an OSCE review of Kosovo's justice system covering the period April 2003 to October 2004 depicts a broader problem of witness intimidation. Listing a series of examples of apparent intimidation during the period in question - in relation to kidnapping, organised crime and rape trials - the report underlines that these "are likely to represent only a fraction of the actual cases".

 

Beth Miller, a lawyer working for the Criminal Defence Resource Centre in Pristina, explained that the problem of widespread witness intimidation in Kosovo is not necessarily just a war crimes issue, but stems more generally from underlying factors like organised crime and a lack of respect for the law. OSCE spokesman Sven Lindholm sees clear consequences, "If witnesses believe that by assisting the authorities they or their family will be endangered, they may remain silent for fear of reprisal. "It is axiomatic that if witnesses cease to provide information to the police or evidence to the courts, prosecutions will be hindered and justice replaced by impunity. "If a witness in a murder trial cannot be protected, what hope is there when it comes to war crimes?"

 

Observers say that, besides the simple fact that Kosovo is a small area with a relatively tight-knit community, more complex cultural factors also play a role. To an extent, it is a cliché to speak of the importance of honour and loyalty and the complex tradition of blood feuds in Kosovo Albanian society. But one Kosovo expert interviewed by IWPR underlined that these are still real considerations. Such traditions, he explained, have their roots in the history of the region, which has always been on the periphery of different states and has long lacked a well-functioning system of governance. When people feel unable to go to the police and judiciary to fix injustices, he said, they are more likely to take matters into their own hands.

 

The expert, who did not want to be named, pointed out that such traditions of loyalty, honour and vigilante justice are likely to be especially strong among former members of the KLA, which was rooted in a strong rural culture, and which consciously invoked traditionalist concepts as a way of developing its image as a very "Albanian" army. The OSCE's Lindholm explained that the problem of intimidation also results from weaknesses in Kosovo's current witness protection programme, despite ongoing moves to improve it. Tribunal insiders are understandably reluctant to discuss sensitive details of the court's own witness protection system - but it is clear that at least parts of this system, including the witness relocation programme, operate independently of the local judiciary in Kosovo.

 

Sources within the UN court say its staff take attempts to intimidate witnesses very seriously. "[The purpose of intimidation] is to prevent justice to be done and truth to be told...," prosecution spokesperson Florence Hartmann told IWPR. "We have, within the [tribunal] rules, instruments to overcome those problems, which occur in all trials but are particularly alarming in [the Lapusnik case] - from protection of witnesses to relocation, through to the arrest and punishment of those who are caught obstructing justice." In the courtroom itself, pseudonyms and voice and image distortion can be used to protect witnesses' identities from the public, and particularly sensitive testimony can be heard entirely out of the public domain. And in the most extreme cases of intimidation, the UN court has specialist staff ready to relocate witnesses to 11 countries with which the court has formal agreements.

 

At the same time, a tribunal insider told IWPR that the indictment against Beqaj was certainly intended to send a message to anyone else who tried to interfere in the case. If convicted, Beqaj - who was granted provisional release on March 8, pending trial - faces a possible seven years in prison and 100,000 euro fine. All of this requires extra time and money. But as tribunal spokesperson Jim Landale told IWPR, that is not a consideration when it comes to dealing with such a serious issue. "[Witness intimidation is] something that has to be addressed, and is addressed," he said. "And it's not neglected for any resource-related reason. In other words, it's a priority."

 

Still, at the end of the day it is clear that much rests on the courage of those who, having suffered or witnessed savage mistreatment during the conflict in Kosovo, insist on having their day in court. Judging by his own statements in the witness stand, protected witness L-96 was clearly under no illusions about the possible consequences of his decision to testify. "We tried hard," he told judges, "risking our lives to come here."

Discussions about Kosovo's future status premature - Ahtisaari

CZECH NEWS AGENCY, Apr 21, 2006 9:44 PM

Bratislava, April 21 (CTK) - Martti Ahtisaari, special U.N. envoy for talks on the future of Kosovo, said in Bratislava today that the negotiations have focused on the position of minorities and that discussions about the provinces future status are premature.

Talking to journalists after a meeting with Slovak Foreign Minister Eduard Kukan, Ahtisaari would not comment on whether Kosovo should become independent or remain part of Serbia.

It is impossible to speak about Kosovos status before we know that all Kosovo inhabitants will enjoy dignified life and chances, Ahtisaari said.

Kukan, too, would not speculate on whether Kosovo should become independent.

The positions of Kosovo Albanians and the Serbian-Montenegrin government have been incompatible so far.

The Albanians demand independence, while Belgrade is ready to put up with Kosovos broad autonomy.

Kukan does not hide his reserved stand on independent Kosovo.

In February he criticised the international community saying that it should not exert unilateral pressure on Belgrade over Kosovo, and that the negotiations result should be acceptable to both sides involved.

Kukan softened his statements today. "We have no special or specially economic or other interests in this region," Kukan said.

He said Slovakia is neither pro-Albanian nor pro-Serbian.

Up to now, Kosovo Albanians and Belgrade government representatives have held three rounds of negotiations under the aegis of the U.N., without discussing Kosovos definitive status yet.

The next round of negotiations is to focus on cultural heritage protection.

Ambassador Wisner visits Serbian Orthodox Church

KiM Info Newsletter 21-04-06

Serbian Orthodox Church, Patriarch's Residence, Belgrade, April 17, 2006

Acting on behalf of His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Pavle, His Eminence Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montenegro and the Littoral today received the special envoy of the U.S. State Department for negotiations on the future status of Kosovo, His Excellency Ambassador Frank Wisner in the Patriarch's residence in Belgrade. The Serbian Orthodox Church delegation also included Bishop Grigorije of Zahumlje and Herzegovina, Bishop Joanikije of Budimlje and Niksic and Father Irinej (Dobrijevic), consultant for international and inter-church relations to the Holy Synod of Bishops and director of the Office of the Holy Assembly of Bishops' Kosovo and Metohija Committee. Also present at the meeting were the U.S. Ambassador to Belgrade, Mr. Michael Polt, and Mr. Gustavo Delgado, a political advisor in the U.S. Embassy.

Ambassador Wisner asked Metropolitan Amfilohije to convey greetings to His Holiness and congratulations on the occasion of the greatest of Christian holidays, the Resurrection.

Having visited the institutions of the European Union in Brussels, Macedonia, Pristina and the government in Belgrade, Ambassador Wisner told Metropolitan Amfilohije that it is very important for the Church to stay and survive in Kosovo and Metohija, and to develop its life there. The position of the U.S. Government is that the Church should have a role in the negotiating process on the future status of Kosovo and Metohija in order to protect her rights and her monasteries in holy shrines both internationally and through local laws.

Metropolitan Amfilohije said that Kosovo and Metohija is the greatest worry of our church. He emphasized that "the Church, by her nature, desires truth and justice for all people living in Kosovo and Metohija" and that toward that end the Church is ready to assist in finding a just solution for an issue that is not the concern of only one country but of the entire region.

Thanking Ambassador Wisner for his interest and concern for the rights of the Church and people in Kosovo and Metohija, Metropolitan Amfilohije said that he hoped that "the United States would work on reaching a just and long-term solution for Kosovo and Metohija in order to protect the existence and rights of the Serbs and all others living there". He emphasized, however, that the Church and people are not encouraged by the fact that to this day Serbian Orthodox holy shrines and cemeteries are being destroyed and desecrated, as in the case of the cemetery in Pec whose entrance is blocked by a garbage dump.

Bishop Grigorije of Zahumlje and Herzegovina presented the ten basic principles of the Serbian Orthodox Church with regard to the resolution of the future status of Kosovo and Metohija. He highlighted the four basic requests: the return of the expelled, the restoration of destroyed holy shrines and sites, the return of property, and decentralization, i.e. local self-administration.

Recapitulating some of the key points mentioned by Metropolitan Amfilohije and Bishop Grigorije, Father Irinej (Dobrijevic) said that the same requests were made by the official delegation of the Serbian Orthodox Church before representatives of the U.S. Administration and the United Nations, and that these had been very well received. He then presented several concrete proposals on how these requests could be implemented.
Extending his holiday greetings for Pascha, Metropolitan Amfilohije presented Ambassador Wisner with the book Endowments of Kosovo, which outlines the history of all the Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries in Kosovo and Metohija and describes their importance for Christian culture and spirituality of the Balkans and Europe.

Bishop Teodosije: Decision on status of Kosovo and Metohija must not be rushed

KiM Info Newsletter 21-04-06

DECANI, April 19, 2006 (Tanjug) - The decision on the future status of Kosovo and Metohija must not be rushed and any solution should be the result of negotiations and compromises by both sides involved in the negotiations or it will not bring long-term stability to the Serbian province, Bishop Teodosije of Lipljan assessed today.

In a Paschal interview for Tanjug the Bishop pointed out that only when a satisfactory solution for normal living conditions for the Serb people and the protection of their holy shrines is achieved will it be possible to responsibly address the resolution of the future status of Kosovo.

Staying and survival of the Serbs in the province should be a priority in the talks between Belgrade and Pristina, said the Bishop, adding that the solution for future status must enable safety for everyone, regardless of their ethnic origin or religion.

"I sincerely believe that this goal is achievable but it requires a lot of good will from both negotiating parties, as well as the firm position of the international community that resolving the status must not lead to the persecution and suffering of the people," said Teodosije.

The Bishop also believes that no one has the moral right to turn the Serbs into strangers in their own homes and to deny them their name and identity because, he said, this concept of society has been transcended and cannot lead to a European future.

He noted that regardless of the agreement on future status, Serbs should stay in their homes just as for centuries they "stayed and survived" despite wars, border changes and persecutions.

Highlighting the importance of Belgrade's role in negotiations with respect to the return of all those who were forced to leave their homes under various forms of pressure, the Bishop said that the Serbs are a "proud but honorable and tolerant people", who are aware that their place is right here regardless of the political reality.

"Young people need to be given jobs, opportunities, the possibility of starting and supporting their own families in the places where they themselves grew up," said the Bishop.

He said that the restitution of the property of the Serbian Orthodox Church and numerous property issues are very complex and therefore must be resolved under strong international control and with the help of international legal experts and the Serbian diaspora.

Bishop Teodosije said that the insistence of the Serbian Orthodox Church on preventing the privatization of real property for which evidence exists were once owned by the Church is in accordance with the effort to thus prevent the immediate sale of church land that is presently socially owned.

Teodosije announced that an inter-faith conference hosted by the Serbian Orthodox Church would be held in the Pec Patriarchate Monastery on May 2-3 on the Church's initiative.

He said that this would be an opportunity for representatives of all religious to send a powerful joint message that "the only real path forward is the path of dialogue and mutual respect of the identity and rights of every community regardless of their differences".

The Bishop's message to Kosovo and Metohija Serbs was that they must remain tolerant despite all difficulties, as well as full of optimism and hope in a better future.

"How much better things will be for us does not depend only on others but also on ourselves and the extent to which we are ready and able to confront the situation in which we are living in accordance with the Gospels, as Christians," he said.

The Bishop expressed his satisfaction with the pace at which Serbian churches and monasteries destroyed and damaged during Albanian violence in March 2004 are being restored.

He also reminded that during the past seven years in Kosovo and Metohija 150 holy shrines have been destroyed or seriously damaged but that despite this the monks and nuns have retained their spiritual strength, thanks primarily to their bishop and spiritual father, Bishop Artemije.

On behalf of the brotherhood of Visoki Decani Monastery and the many who are enduring and surviving in Kosovo and Metohija, Bishop Teodosije wished all the faithful a happy and blessed feast of the Resurrection.

Bishop Artemije: I will receive Ceku only when I have returned to Prizren

Serbian Press Agency SRNA, Bijeljina, Republika Srpska, 20-04-2006 16:04:00

Gracanica, April 20 (SRNA) - His Grace Bishop Artemije of Raska and Prizren said today that he will be able to receive Kosovo premier Agim Ceku only when he has returned to his restored residence in Prizren and the Orthodox faithful to their homes, the press service of the Diocese of Raska and Prizren advised.

Agim Ceku sent Bishop Artemije a communique on April 14 expressing the desire to visit Gracanica Monastery on the occasion of the Orthodox feast of the Resurrection and to personally wish Bishop Artemije a happy holiday.

In his reply to Ceku's communique Bishop Artemije emphasized that for almost seven years now his status has been that of a forcibly displaced person outside his residence in Prizren, which was torched in the March 17, 2004  pogrom together with the Orthodox cathedral and many other Orthodox holy shrines, and that he is unable to receive Ceku until he has returned to his restored residence and the Orthodox faithful to their homes.

Bishop Artemije may be the target of an assassination plot

CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER (USA), Saturday, April 15, 2006, By Patrick O'Donnell, Plain Dealer Reporter

Foreign News Briefs

Supporters of Bishop Artemije, the main Serbian Orthodox Church official for the regions of Kosovo and Metohija in the former Yugoslavia, say the outspoken cleric may be the target of an assassination plot.

Artemije visited St. Sava Cathedral in Parma in February on a tour of the United States to oppose the Kosovo region becoming an independent state. In his talks here, Artemije said terrorist activity by the Albanian majority against the remaining Serbian population would rival al-Qaida's if independence is granted.

Rada Trajkovic, an executive board member of the Serbian National Council of Kosovo and Metohija, said a group of "Muslim Albanian terrorists" in the Podujeco area of Kosovo are planning the attack.

She has raised those concerns both to Serbian newspapers and to the U.N. Mission in Kosovo but complained that the United Nations did only a "cursory" investigation.

A spokeswoman for Serbia's U.S. embassy said it has not heard of threats specifically against Artemije but is concerned for the safety of all Serbs there.

UNMIK unveils plan for Kosovo Serb returns

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND SECURITY NETWORK (SWITZERLAND), Thursday, 20 April 2006 9.35 CET

ISN SECURITY WATCH - The United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) has unveiled a plan to lure Serb refugees back to Kosovo as the province future status is being decided, Dtt-Net.com reported.

The Brussels-based news agency quoted Sandra Michel, who is in charge of refugees returns for UNMIK, as telling reporters in Belgrade on Tuesday that the plan hoped to make it easier for displaced persons to return to Kosovo by allowing them to choose where they would like to live.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), since the year 2000, 14,648 refugees or internally displaced persons from Kosovo have returned to their homes. Among those, 6,640 are Serbs.

Security for minority Serbs in the majority ethnic Albanian province of Kosovo is a major concern, especially with negotiations for the province's future status underway. Many Serbs in Kosovo live in UN-protected enclaves.

Earlier this month, UNMIK chief Soren Jessen Petersen said there had been some progress toward improving security for minority Serbs, but that there was still much work to be done, Dtt-Net.com reported.

The UNMIK head criticized Belgrade for urging Kosovo Serbs to boycott local institutions and refuse their salaries at education and healthcare public sector, saying such calls worked did not help to integrate Serbs into Kosovo society.

There are conflicting figures of Kosovo Serb refugees who left to Serbia after the end of 1999 war. The German think tank European Stability Initiative (ESI) said last year that there are only 65,000 displaced Kosovo Serbs living in Serbia proper - a figure that seriously challenges Belgrade's claims of close to 220,000. According to UNMIK, some 100,000 Serbs are living in Kosovo.