Church in Smodreza turned into Public Toilet Again

11/6/2011

Serbian Church

The Kosmet Strategic Network NGO, which gathers 70 Serb organizations of that type, has communicated that few days ago the church was broken into and turned into a public toilet and waste dump.

The Orthodox Christina temple in the village of Samodreza, near Vucitrn, in northern Kosmet, has been desecrated again.

The Kosmet Strategic Network NGO, which gathers 70 Serb organizations of that type, has communicated that few days ago the church was broken into and turned into a public toilet and waste dump.

The attacks on this church have been going on constantly even after the arrival of international forces in 1999, when the sanctity was burned from inside.

The Strategic Network reminds that in the previous period the Albanian community has, on several occasions, blocked the process of renovation of the church in Samodreza, while some 20 families that used to live in the village have been forcefully expelled.

Bogdanovic condemned desecration of church in Kosmet

Serbian Minister of Kosmet Goran Bogdanovic has severely condemned the desecration of the Orthodox church in the village of Samodreza in Kosmet, and asked for perpetrators to be found and punished immediately.

The desecration of the church prior to the great holiday of St. Vitus day represents a message to the Serbs, i.e. what is the attitude of the local Albanian community and the provincial government towards them, pointed Bogdanovic.

He has added that it has once more been shown that the Kosmet police is unable, and often unwilling, to protect the Serb churches, monasteries and cultural monuments.

The minister has said that the Belgrade authorities will insist on EULEX and KFOR establishing mechanisms for the effective protection of the Serb spiritual and cultural heritage, in order to prevent new incidents.

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