10 years since massive anti-Serb violence in Kosovo

(Beta, file)

10 years since massive anti-Serb violence in Kosovo

BELGRADE -- Monday marks ten years since ethnic Albanians in Kosovo launched a widespread campaign of violence targeting Serbs in the province.

The incidents that took place on March 17 and 18, 2004, known in Serbia as "the March pogrom," and resulted in 4,012 Serbs driven out of their homes.

19 people lost their lives, eight of them Serbs, 11 Albanians were killed in clashes with international forces who tried to contain them and protect Serb lives and property.

At least 170 Serbs were injured, along with dozens of members of international missions.

Some 800 Serb-owned homes were destroyed, along with 35 religious structures, including 18 monuments of culture. Among them was the Church of Our Lady of Ljeviš (Bogorodica Ljeviška) in Prizren - one of the landmark monuments of the medieval Serbia state, which received its final shape during the rule of King Milutin (1282-1321), and served prior to that as the seat of the Serbian Church's diocese of Prizren.

The church has been partially renewed, but the traces of devastation and arson have not been removed. In 2006, it was placed on the UNESCO list of protected monuments. Recently the task of guarding it was taken over from KFOR by the Kosovo police.

According to the April 2004 data of the SPC Diocese of Raška and Prizren, the total number of church-owned structures that had been destroyed was nearly 100.

International prosecutors and judges in Kosovo opened seven cases related to the destruction of churches, and sent 67 person to jail, with terms ranging from 21 months to 16 years.

The wave of violence against Serbs in Kosovo came after Albanian language...

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