The Lipljan Orthodox Cemetery has been desecrated once again. Unknown persons destroyed and damaged nine tombstones during the past week, locals discovered during a funeral service yesterday. While Belgrade officials condemn the desecration, Kosovo police have no information on the perpetrators.
„When we went to the funeral, we saw two broken plaques and a tombstone next to there grave where our fellow citizen was buried,“ Jovica Miric, a resident of Lipljan, told KoSSev.
The residents, however, later discovered that a total of 9 tombstones had been broken in the most recent desecration of this Orthodox cemetery.
Similar incidents occurred in the past. On the night of July 12-13th, a total of 20 tombstones were broken, while the same thing happened exactly one year prior to the most recent incident, Miric confirmed for KoSSev.
„On December 15th of last year, one (tombstone) was broken and two were damaged. And in exactly one year, a total of 32 were damaged,” he said.
The residents of Lipljan reported the incident to the police who came to the scene.
Miric, however, said that it is unlikely that the perpetrators of this crime will be found, because the “perpetrators of the previous two desecrations of this cemetery have still not been found.”
KoSSev contacted Kosovo Police spokesperson, Baki Kelani regarding this incident. When asked whether the Kosovo police know who the perpetrators are, Kelani directed us to the Kosovo police daily report sent to the media this morning, adding that everything the police know about this case is available in the report.
However, the police report only confirms that the cemetery in Lipljan was desecrated, that police came to the scene and that the case is being investigated.
While Kosovo officials often point out that Kosovo is an example of religious coexistence and tolerance, the destruction of primarily Orthodox tombstones, but also the tombstones in the cemeteries of other communities, is still taking place even today. The Orthodox cemetery in Lipljan has been repeatedly targeted by vandals ever since the international community took over the jurisdiction in Kosovo.
The head of the Kosovo Office, Marko Djuric condemned the latest desecration of the tombstones in Lipljan, as well as the previous one that took place in July. Djuric stressed that Serbian cemeteries have been „systematically demolished and desecrated“ over the past two decades, and that „these bouts of hatred towards the dead are treated as a minor offense and a violation of law and order.“
The outgoing Kosovo Minister of Local Government Administration, Adriana Hodzic also condemned the desecration.
In addition to the Kosovo Office, the Eparchy of Raska-Prizren, UNMIK and the OSCE Mission to Kosovo also condemned the July demolition of the tombstones.
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
