Orahovac (Kosovo-Metohija). Dal 1999 il cimitero serbo-ortodosso non
viene piu' usato per seppellire le salme. Da allora, una sequela di
vandalismi: tombe imbrattate con scritte inneggianti all'UCK, lapidi
spaccate, eccetera. Ma all'inizio di settembre 2002 il clero ortodosso,
in seguito a sopralluoghi, denuncia che circa 80 nuove sepolture sono
state effettuate non-si-sa-quando da non-si-sa-chi. Sono i cadaveri di
altri "desaparecidos" serbi?
Dopo la denuncia, il sito internet che riporta questa macabra scoperta
(www.kosovo.com) e' soggetto ad attacchi di hacker "provvidenziali";
l'UNMIK tace e nega l'accesso al cimitero agli stessi preti; nessuna
agenzia di stampa riporta la notizia.

---

Why is UNMIK silent about the newly discovered graves in Orahovac?
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/decani/message/69635

Popular Serbian web site Kosovo.com attacked by internet terrorists
(by Sergey Stefanov)
> http://english.pravda.ru/main/2002/09/17/36774.html

For immediate release: Why are the Church representatives denied the
access to Orahovac Orthodox cemetary?
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/decani/message/69713


Subject: 80 NEW GRAVES FOUND AT ORTHODOX CEMETERY IN ORAHOVAC

Date: Fri, 13 Sep 2002 14:26:22 +0200
From: "Info Service" <erpkim@...>
Organization: Info Service ERP KIM
To: <decani@...>SERBIAN ORTHODOX DIOCESE OF RASKA AND
PRIZREN INFORMATION SERVICE

Official communique - For immediate release:

SERBIAN ORTHODOX DIOCESE IN KOSOVO SERIOUSLY CONCERNED ABOUT
THE NEW GRAVES IN ORAHOVAC

Orthodox priest in Orahovac fears that graves contain bodies of
kidnapped and missing Serbs
September 13, 2002 Serbian Orthodox parish
priest in Orahovac, Fr. Srdjan Milenkovic has informed the Diocese
about 80 unindentified graves which were found in Orahovac Serb
Orthodox Cemetery. This cemetery was not used by Orthodox Serbs for
almost three years after the war because of security reasons and it
was only recently that the priest and several members of Serb
community were allowed access to the site. During their first visit in
June they reported only about the desecrated tomb stones, some of them
bearing a sprayed UCK acronym. But, during the more recent visit and
cleaning of the weeds they were surprised to see around 80
unindentified burial moulds. "The bodies have not been buried in
accordance with Orthodox customs because the mounds bear no markings.
We suspect that the bodies of Serbs killed after the arrival of
international forces in Kosovo may be buried here," Fr. Srdjan
immediately confirmed to the KIM Radio. According to the same source,
multiple graves have been unearthed and emptied. New mounds have also
been discovered at the Roma cemetery in Orahovac although no Roma have
been buried at that cemetery in the past three years, either. Since
the arrival of international forces in Kosovo, Serbs from Orahovac are
buried in the churchyard of the church in Serb-inhabited Gornja
Mahala. Although there are innoficial information that the UNMIK
Missing People Unit has already visited the location several times,
the Diocese has not managed to get an official position from UNMIK
yet. During the previous investigation of a possible mass -grave site
in Suva Reka area UNMIK confirmed that forensic teams burried
unindentified bodies for later investigation on several city
cemeteries around Kosovo, but these UNMIK/ICTY sites are all properly
marked and are publicly known, which is not the case with this
cemetery. The Diocese has already requested urgent investigation in
which also Serb forensic experts should take part.After the war 1300
Serbs and Roma were abducted by the Kosovo Albanian terrorist group
(KLA/UCK) which used the UN/NATO protectorate to launch a violent
campaign of killing non-Albanians, primarily Serbs. Not a single case
of kidnapping has been positively resolved so far because UNMIK police
in most of cases failed to make any investigation. Beside the
destruction of more than 120 Orthodox holy sites in the UN/NATO
presence these murders and abductions are considered as one of the
darkest pages of the international Peace mission in Kosovo. IF UNMIK
and KFOR could not prevent murders of Serb and other non-Albanian
civilians during their rule there is at least hope that they will make
some progress in finding their bodies.WEB SITES WILL BE ACTIVE SOON


The official Web-Site of the Diocese of Raska and Prizren:
http://www.decani.yunet.com and the affiliated Site
http://www.kosovo.com will be activated again after a short period of
inactivity due to hacker attacks. Both sites are expected to work
under the joint domain: http://www.kosovo.com These sites document
the atrocities of Kosovo Albanian guerrillas, the pictures of
desecrated Orthodox churches and offer wide range of information on
the life of the Orthodox Church in this part of Serbia. Serbian
Patriarch Pavle said that the site was the "echo of our cry, our
appeal to the civilized Christian
world."

> daily press:POLITIKA
>
> 80 NEW GRAVES FOUND AT ORTHODOX CEMETERY IN ORAHOVAC
>
> September 13, 2002
>
> At orthodox cemetery in Orahovac around 80 unidentified graves have
> been found. In the last three years, since the arrival of peacekeeping
> mission, residents of Orahovac have been buried in the church yard.
> Representative of the Church Board Aksentije Grkovic and local priest
> Srdjan Milenkovic, with some of the Orahovac?s residents confirmed
> after they visit the cemetery that these graves were new, as no Serb
> had been buried there since 1999. The graves are unmarked, were not
> weeded, and according to the priest Milenkovic, it is noted that they
> have not buried by the Orthodox customs. He also said that some older
> graves had been dug out and new bodies were dug in. It is suspected
> about existence of a smaller mass grave close to the chapel at
> Orahovac Cemetery, and some new graves were also detected at the Roma
> cemetery in this town. It is assumed that the unidentified graves
> contain bodies of kidnapped and missing Serbs. UNMiK Department for
> Missing Persons has not promulgated a release so far. As heard,
> arrival of this department on the spot is expected.