In three days of violence in March 2004, ten Serbs have been killed, 35 churches and monasteries burned and 935 facilities owned by Serbs, 4,012 Serbs expelled from six towns and nine villages in Kosovo.
Precisely that was one of the main arguments of Serbia why Pristina does not deserve membership in UNESCO.
The Serbian List still insists on launching an investigation and renewal of the judicial processes that were suspended against suspected, who on 17 March 2004 destroyed several dozen Orthodox churches and monasteries, says Slavko Simic, President of the Serbian List in Kosovo. He says that recently signed Stabilisation and Association Agreement of Kosovo and the EU will help.
– Usually they did it by setting fire and completely destroying dozen of additional church and monastery buildings. For all of this are convicted three men with minimal sentences, with two years in prison and were released on parole after five months in prison. The Article 7 of the SAA of Kosovo with the EU says that Kosovo and the EU reaffirm the crimes of concern to the international community as a whole, and these crimes cannot go unpunished. It is stated that the prosecution of these crimes should be ensured. We expect investigations to open and to examine all the cases that are returning disturbing images from that time – said Simic.
The decision in UNESCO was celebrated in Belgrade, but even more so in Mitrovica and Gracanica. The next day there were further pressures on the Serbs.
– Pressure on the Serbian community has never ceased. Europe and the whole world have to face the fact that Kosovo is not governed by democratic principles of the rule of law, freedom of movement and respect for minority communities. The Albanian community should not look at this debacle at the General Assembly of UNESCO, as a defeat, and we should not be proud of it and experience this as a victory. It is essential that we are reasonable and to approach the dialogue that will regulate certain compromises. I hope that reason will win, because Kosovo is an area that can experience destabilization at any moment. And destabilization always affects the Serbian community – underlines Simic.
