Eparchy of Raska and Prizen: Violation of the rights of the SOC; the Kosovo authorities again banned the liturgy in the Church of Christ the Savior

The Eparchy of Raska and Prizren announced that the Kosovo authorities for the second year in a row had banned the religious ceremony in the Church of Christ the Savior in Pristina, on the occasion of the celebration of the Ascension of Christ, which, as assessed, had continued a serious violation of the religious rights and freedoms of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Kosovo and Metohija.

"On the occasion of this year's celebration of the feast of the Ascension of Christ on May 24, the Serbian Orthodox Church, the Eparchy of Raska and Prizren, the Kosovo authorities again this year prohibited access to the church and holding a religious ceremony, without any legal basis, continuing a serious violation of the religious rights and freedoms of the Serbian Orthodox Church on Kosovo and Metohija," the statement of the Eparchy states.

On the eve of the Feast of the Ascension, it is added, the Eparchy of Raska and Prizren, with the best of intentions, informed the Kosovo Police about the planned religious ceremony in the Church of Christ the Savior in Pristina on May 24 on the Ascension of Christ, in order to secure the religious gathering and organize the parking of vehicles.

"On Wednesday, May 23, the SOC parish in Pristina was informed informally, only verbally, by the Kosovo police that the Serbian Orthodox Church was prohibited from serving the Easter Liturgy in our church of Christ the Savior in Pristina. Our priest was verbally informed that the Kosovo authorities forbid the service of religious rites in our temple in Pristina 'as long as the court case initiated by the University of Pristina against the Eparchy of Raska and Prizren continues', as well as for alleged security reasons. The priest was not handed any written decision in this regard," the statement said.

Considering that one of the excuses for banning the use of the Church of Christ the Savior in Pristina is the existence of a court case initiated by the University of Pristina against the Eparchy of Raska and Prizren in 2018 (which has been stalled since then due to a number of procedural reasons), the Eparchy points out that before a legally binding and final court decision, the legal owner of the property, and especially of a religious building, cannot be prohibited from accessing and using a religious building anywhere in the democratic world.

"According to the international principle of 'presumption of innocence', which applies to both criminal and property issues, the existence of a dispute cannot be a reason to prevent the free use of property registered in the cadastre as property of the SOC, and especially not to violate legal rights on freedom of assembly and religious rites clearly defined in the Kosovo legislation. Otherwise, anyone could violate basic religious and human rights by arbitrarily disputing property and making false accusations. Therefore, according to all international standards, the property of the SOC is inviolable, until the court process eventually proves otherwise and all legal remedies are exhausted. We note that this problem is also recorded in the report on the religious freedom of the United States of America for the year 2022 in the part related to Kosovo, which shows that it is already a systematic violation of the legally regulated religious rights of the SOC. At the same time, the Kosovo police did not respond to the appeal of the Serbian Orthodox Church in a written form, nor did it issue a ban on religious services based on any court decision because there are no valid legal grounds for that. That's why the ban was only verbally pronounced in a way that implies the possibility of an incident in the event that the Church exercises its right to freedom of worship," the Eparchy states.

The repeated ban on serving the liturgy in our church, as it is added, as well as the overall climate and attempts to erode our rights more and more every day, showed for the umpteenth time that the Serbian Orthodox Church in the area of Kosovo and Metohija needed enhanced legal protection that would not allow abuse of rights and laws, especially religious freedom by Kosovo institutions.

"The banning of this gathering, as well as the non-fulfillment of other legal obligations towards the SOC, as well as the non-allowance of clergy and believers to a number of other religious facilities in the area of Kosovo and Metohija, clearly shows a serious situation of open religious, ethnic and legal discrimination that continues and worsens. Eparchy of Raska and Prizren on this occasion expresses its strongest protest against the open violation of our religious rights and the abuse of the law by the Kosovo police, which is obliged to ensure freedom of assembly

and religious facilities and will use all legal means to resolve this issue in accordance with the law," the Eparchy announced.