Office for Kosovo and Metohija: Attacks on Serbian Orthodox Church holy sites point to deteriorating security situation

The Office for Kosovo and Metohija said, following the break-in at the Church of Saints Constantine and Helena in the village of Busince in Kamenica, that the latest attack on a holy site of the Serbian Orthodox Church points to a deteriorating security situation in Kosovo, where Serbian churches, children and women are also being targeted.

“The Church of Saints Constantine and Helena in the village of Busince in Kosovo's Kamenica was broken into and ransacked on the major Orthodox holiday of the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God, which holds enormous significance and symbolism for the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija, and money from voluntary donations was taken. This latest example of an attack on a holy site of the Serbian Orthodox Church also points to a deteriorating security situation in Kosovo and Metohija, where Serbian churches, children and women are also being targeted,” the Office for Kosovo and Metohija said.

They added that not a day goes by without an ethnically motivated incident being recorded in Serbian communities in Kosovo, and that almost without exception, all of them remain unresolved, while the perpetrators face neither adequate convictions nor sanctions.

“This event has particularly worried and distressed the believers living in this Serbian village in Kosovo's Kamenica because it shows them that they have no peace even on a major religious holiday, nor in their own holy sites. The attack on a Serbian Orthodox Church facility reflects a deep disrespect for religious differences and for the right of the Serbian people to peacefully and collectively visit their churches and celebrate religious holidays,” the Office for Kosovo and Metohija added.

They reminded that KLA flags were recently hung on a church fence in Lipljan, and that Serbian churches are frequently targeted by thieves and vandals, while adequate sanctions against the perpetrators of these crimes have been lacking.

The Church of Saints Constantine and Helena in the village of Busince near Kamenica was broken into on the night between Thursday and Friday, and slightly more than 1,100 euros was stolen from the donation box.