Page 797 - Kosovo Metohija Heritage

at the same time, the President of the Commission for Relations with Religious Communities of the Federal ex- ecutive Council was informed of the content of the peti- tion and asked for appropriate intervention, while the Holy Synod of Bishops asked His Grace Bishop Pavle for his opin- ion on whether it would be useful to publish the text of the petition in Pravoslavlje, the newspaper of the Serbian Pa- triarchate.
in a meeting on September 2, 1986, the Holy Synod of Bishops was informed of the opinion of His Grace Bishop Pavle of Raška and Prizren in No 337 from july 10, 1986 that “the text should not be published ... because it involves a mentally unbalanced man who did what is described un- der the influence of others. i have heard that he has been sent to a mental hospital. i think that the publication of this case would give rise to responses from others who would try to cover up or conceal those far more serious and clear- ly irredentist and hostile.”126
NiN magazine wrote on july 26, 1986, how eight alba- nians—ahmet Plava, Naser and Sami Rahova, Nedžedin and Sabedini Potoku, Bedri jelići, Gani Hajrizi and Džafer Rahova—raped a Serb woman by the initials N.K. from Srbica. Unfortunately, it is not known whether and how they were sentenced but everyone understood the mes- sage behind this crime which even the illiterate could read and which said: Serbs, get out of Kosovo and Metohija.
The Year 1987
His Grace Bishop Pavle of Raška and Prizren in act No 595 from august 17, 1987, sent the Holy Synod of Bishops a copy of a petition sent to the Commission for Relations with Religious Communities of the executive Council of the assembly of the Socialist autonomous Province of Ko- sovo and Metohija, which cites a report by the church par- ish in Priština, as follows:
“We have already grown accustomed to constant prov- ocations by albanian youth when we go into town but re- cently other incidents have begun to happen as well.
On the eve of the feast of St. john (july 6, 1987), the priest stayed somewhat longer in the parish and when he returned in the evening his wife told him that someone had thrown rocks at the metal entrance gate, and a small rock had hit a window on the apartment, which frightened the children. after that, third or fourth evening a rock would strike the gate. But on july 19, 1987, just after 10:00 p.m. a real volley of rocks began on the roof of the church. The police was informed and arrived immediately, catching some 15 young men who were doing this and taking them to the police station. Since then the attacks have stopped.
On top of this, we have other problems. across the road from the church there is a land parcel owned by the church where there are some huts of the former post office, which
126 AHSB, Syn No 2071/zap. 702/86.
Photo of the year 1986. Kosovo Serbs prevented from going to Belgrade to complain to Federal government on Albanian discrimination, Newspaper cuttings from the Serbian press.
are now inhabited by several families. The church parish is involved in a lawsuit with the Municipal assembly in Priš- tina. One inhabitant of a hut has begun to prepare a frame in order to build a cement wall and make a land parcel for himself. The elder of the church and the president of the church parish reported the matter to the inspector’s office. The inspector came out to the scene and “ordered that the boards be removed.” But the same afternoon the cement had been poured and metal bars placed in it. We received notification that the wall would be destroyed but more than a month later the wall is still standing.“
in a meeting on September 1, 1987, the Holy Synod of Bishops decided to forward a copy of this petition to the Commissions for Relations with Religious Communities of the Federal executive Council and the executive Coun- cil of the assembly of the Socialist Republic of Serbia with
The Suffering and Persecution in Kosovo and Metohija from 1945 to 2005
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