Report UN speaks of Banjska and Serbian Orthodox Church complaints of alleged involvement in attack

The US State Department, late last month, has released reports on Religious Freedoms in various parts of the world.

Among them is Kosovo.

The Kosovo report has included the Banjska attack on Kosovo Police by the armed Serb group, whose organisation had later taken over Serbian politician from Kosovo Milan Radojciq, who from Kosovo institutions was later declared terrorist.

DASch says authorities in Serbia had arrested Radocicin on 3 October, while they released him on 4 October, “pending investigations”.

On September 24th, an organised, armed and trained group of ethnic Serbs attacked the Kosovo Police in the village of Banjsk in the Zvecan municipality, killing a police sergeant and wounding two other officers. Later, the group broke into the nearby Banjska Monastery complex and fought the police for several hours, including from the monastery's property, while the abbey of the Serbian Orthodox Church (KOS) and approximately 40 pilgrims from Serbia were isolated to the monastery until the group left. Police said three attackers were killed during the fight”.

“After fighting, police and NATO Forces personnel in Kosovo and the European Union's Mission for Rule of Law (EULEX) entered the monastery and found KOS personnel and pilgrims there intact. According to the KOS, the monastery suffered minor injuries at the gates and doors of the conak, which was outside the main building of the” monastery.

“at a 29 September press conference and speaking on behalf of US-sponsored Serbian List Vice President Milan Radojic, Radojciq's lawyer, said his client was responsible for organising, leadership and participating in the Banjska attack. Radojicic's lawyer also announced Radojchi's resignation as Serbian List deputy chairman. Serbian authorities arrested Radoichi on October 3rd and released him on October 4th, pending further investigations, which continued until the end of”, the DAS report on Religious Freedoms reports.

It further emphasises how the Serbian Orthodox Church condemned the attack on Kosovo police and complained of public statements by Kosovo government officials, public figures and media “claiming the KOS was accomplice in the attack”.

For example, Interior Minister Jalal Svecla told the media in September that there were links that there were direct involvement of the monastery's acting staff”.

“on 25 September, the KOS said that EULEX and the police did not find anything that could compromise the monastery and said fire gears, armours and pieces of equipment discovered after the attack were thrown by armed persons after withdrawing from the” monastery.

The separate police reported that a large quantity of weapons and vehicles were found and around the monastery, including rocket launchers, mortar shells, grenades, explosives and small weapons. In October, despite the denial of the KOS, Minister Svecla told the media that he would not be surprised if the monastery played a role in the attack, because the Serbian Orthodox Church has always played a devastating role in peace in the region and was part of Serbia's hegemonist policy.

DASh said that by the end of the year, the government's investigation into the incident continued.

The report also mentions Minister Hajrula Ceku's letter to the KOS, offering damage repair at the Banjsca Monastery.

“Letra mentioned the government's constitutional obligation to protect and promote cultural heritage without discrimination. In response, the KOS said that he is unable to accept the intervention of Kosovo institutions in our church's life and the assumption of protecting the Banjska Monastery”.

“The KOS said the government's offer was a political right, aimed at establishing religious and cultural heritage... under the political control of Kosovo institutions and also degrading our fundamental religious freedoms and rights and cultural embezzlement of our churches and monasteries. The KOS said it would repair the monastery (which had suffered little damage) with its resources”.

In October, in response to media reports that the monastery's independent repairs to the KOS violated the law (because they were not authorised by the government Institute for Protection of Monuments), the KOS said the Ahtisaari Plan (which provided the basis for Kosovo independence and regulated the creation of Kosovo's legal framework) stresses that KOS should have the full discrimination of management, reconstruction and approach at its facilities<1).

The report, which includes events during 2023, also mentions reported cases where the exercise of religious freedoms in Kosovo has been hampered.

It also mentions the refusalal statements by the heads of state during the past year on ownership of about 26 hectares of land for the Decani Monastery.

In March, the government submitted proposals for amendments to the Law on Religious Freedom that would allow religious groups to gain legal status; The Assembly (national legislation) took no action for them during the year. In May, police again prevented clergymen from the Serbian Orthodox Church (KOS) from performing a service at the anti-Christ Savior church in Pristina. Some schools continued to deny access to Muslim girls dressed in hyjabe, citing government regulations. Municipal and central government officials again failed to implement previous Constitutional Court and Supreme Court decisions that were familiar with the KOS Decani Monastery ownership of land near the monastery. In May, President Vjosa Osmani said that implementing previous court decisions concerning the monastery's controversial property could create an extremely dangerous precedent. In October, the government deported a member of the KOS clergy to northern Macedonia for uncontested violations of the Foreign Law. The KOS said that deportation was a brutal, arbitrary and extra-trial campaign. In July, Prime Minister Albin Kurti posted on social networks that Serbia was using ambulances to smuggle weapons into Orthodox churches in Kosovo. The KOS said Kurti's statements openly promoted ethnic and religious intolerance” was said, among other things, in the DASH report on religious freedoms in Kosovo, Klankosova.tv reports.

In addition, the case of February 2023 is mentioned when “4 prevented one imam from performing religious rituals at the Halabak mosque in the Podujevo municipality and attacked a person from xhamat”.

In April, a group of unidentified people attacked the imam of the village of Top Miradi in Fushe Kosovo after daily prayers. Representatives of the Jewish community noted a considerable increase in antisemitic language in social media following Hamas' attack in Israel in October, but the community's leader said false news was sometimes the cause. The KOS stated that some of the incidents targeting its property, including one during the Orthodox Easter holidays, were religiously and ethnically motivated. The KOS said the police failed or was unwilling to act for criminal acts with religious or nationalist background. Police representatives said all cases involving cultural or religious heritage address them with priorities and in line with the laws at power”.

The report also cites the commitment of US Ambassador Jeff Hovenier and other embassy officials to assist with government officials in adopting amendments to the Law on Religious Freedom that would allow religious groups to gain legal status.

“They also urged government officials to respect religious freedom and pluralism and to boost communication and co-operation with religious groups. The ambassador, a senior State Department visitor official and embassy officials, met with government officials to encourage them to implement the Constitutional and Supreme Court decisions ordering land ownership registration at the Decani Monastery. Embassy officials also urged the government to maintain the threatened Bektasian theme (Suffy place of worship) in Prizren as a protected historical site. The embassy often issued messages to the press and to social media in support of religious freedom” was posted in this report.