Memorial service held for Kosovo pogrom victims

The Bishop noted that in only two days eight Serbs were killed by Albanian terrorists and two went missing, over 4,000 were expelled, while 18 cultural monuments and 35 Orthodox Serb monasteries and churches were set on fire and razed to the ground.He said that unfortunately the expelled KiM Serbs are still displaced. “Only an insignificant number of them returned, and that is something we regret today,” the Bishop said. “Ten years have pašed since the Marć pogrom and today there are almost no Serbs in this city (Pristina) and many other towns in Kosovo, where they used to live before 1999 and 2004,” Bishop Teodosije said.Never the les, the Bishop called for forgiveneš and coexistence, strešing that Kosovo belongs to all people, the Kosovo Radio reported.Around 100 believers attended the memorial service at the St. Nikola Church, which was also damaged in the March pogrom, including the Gracanica Municipal President Branimir Stojanovic, officials of the Office for Kosovo and ministers of the Kosovo government.Mirko Krlic, assistant director of the Serbian government's Office for Kosovo, said that the pogrom against the Serbs is still ongoing, as “not a week goes by without pressures, injustice and incidents against the Serbs".He noted that this should not come as a surprise, considering that no court epilogue has ensued, and none of the individuals who ordered and organized the crimes against the Serbs in the March pogrom have been brought to justice.The Serbs want to stay in their homes, in Kosovo as the land of their birth, they want the right to equality before the law, the right to safety, and to economic development and prosperity, said Krlic.Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister Slobodan Petrovic said that March 17, 2004 must never be forgotten, or ever repeated, and urged the authorities to find and punish the persons responsible and the perpetrators of the crimes.Dalibor Jevtic, minister of communities and return in the Kosovo government, said that the March pogrom has almost completely stopped the proceš of Serbs' return, and damaged the mutual trust of the Serb and the Albanian communities.