Twenty-Five Years of Silence: Serbian Families from Miroce and Gojbulja Still Denied Access to Their Own Property

(This text is based on a letter written by a residentof the village of Miroce, and on the complaint submitted by the affected party in this case – Dušan Milenković).

For over two decades, more than 30 Serbian families from the villages of Miroce and Gojbulja have been trying to reclaim approximately 230 hectares of land and destroyed homes—land they claim was forcibly seized and has since been continuously used by an Albanian family from the neighboring village of Karace. The land includes houses, fields, orchards, pastures, and forests.

Despite repeated appeals to Kosovo institutions, international missions, diplomatic representatives, and the Serbian Office for Kosovo and Metohija, the families say no institutional response has ever led to meaningful action.

In their fifth open letter—addressed to EULEX, OSCE, UNMIK, the embassies of the Quint countries, and Kosovo’s central authorities (published via KoSSev) — the landowners call for the formation of a working group to visit the site and directly assess the situation.

“We are old and ill, living as displaced people and left powerless. Please understand that we no longer have time for empty promises,” they write.

“Systematic destruction with institutional knowledge”

According to the letter, the problem began in the year 2000 reportedly as a result of ethnic hostility. The Serbian residents were expelled from Miroce, and their property was not only seized but allegedly systematically destroyed and exploited—with the perpetrators even receiving agricultural subsidies for the land, they claim.

Between 2007 and 2016, all remaining homes were completely demolished. Orchards were uprooted, forests cut down, wells filled in, and parcel boundaries plowed over to consolidate the land. Building materials from the demolished houses, the families say, were used to construct a large farm, which now occupies the entire area.

The families say they have been denied access to their property for the entire 25-year period. They claim they know the names of those currently using the land, based on witness statements and official police and court records.

Authorities treating a systemic problem as a private dispute

The affected families argue that both local and judicial institutions have persistently treated this as a minor dispute between individuals, ignoring its scope—both in terms of the number of people affected and the seriousness of the alleged crimes.

They allege that a single Albanian family is responsible for extensive property destruction, illegal occupation, and violence, causing damages they estimate to exceed two million euros. Despite filing numerous criminal complaints, Kosovo’s prosecutorial bodies have, they claim, failed to act.

Judicial proceedings fall short

Several court cases have been initiated over the years. In one instance, a defendant was reportedly acquitted after an eight-year trial, despite what the families describe as clear evidence of demolished houses, deforestation, and destroyed orchards. The court treated the matter as a case of simple land trespassing.

The plaintiffs also claim they were prevented from accessing their land and threatened with violence, making it nearly impossible to gather evidence or secure witnesses.

All institutional channels exhausted

Over the past three years, the families say they have reached out repeatedly to Kosovo’s central institutions and international organizations—OSCE, EULEX, UNMIK, and foreign embassies. They also contacted the Ministry for Communities and Returns, the Ministry of Local Government Administration, and the Kosovo Property Comparison and Verification Agency.

Each of these institutions, the letter states, declared the case outside their jurisdiction.

They particularly highlight the role of the Ombudsperson Institution, which, they say, failed to take action despite receiving detailed documentation.

“Our problem is not that we refuse to use legal channels, but that these institutions have been non-functional for cases like ours—for 25 years now,” they state.

A final appeal to the international community

Faced with what they describe as a complete absence of institutional will to resolve the issue, the families once again call on international actors to intervene.

“We no longer know whom to contact, how, or how many more times we have to repeat ourselves. So we’re telling you clearly: form a working group, visit the location, examine satellite imagery and land registry records, speak with us. If you don’t do it—no one else will.”

They conclude that only direct involvement from international missions and higher-level institutions can finally begin to address a case that, they say, has been neglected for a quarter of a century.