Serbs who have left their homes in Pristina, Kosovo, and are now living in Belgrade and Nis have on Saturday visited the partially cleaned up Pristina Orthodox cemetery but again found some of the gravestones damaged.
The Serbs traveled to Kosovo with two buses and were joined by Serbs internally displaced in villages around Pristina. The groups visited the graveyard marking the Orthodox holiday of St. Demetrios, or Mitrovdan.
One of the visitors, Verica Ristic, told the Beta agency that her family had lived in Pristina for 400 years.
“Here, behind this old chapel are the graves of my husband’s ancestors. Last time everything was fine but this time the graves are damaged. The old gravestones are destroyed,” she said, characterizing it as “grave vandalism.”
Pristina’s priest Sasa Mitrovic, who held the service, told reporters that every year requests are sent to authorities for the graveyard to be cleaned but it never is. He urged the Serbs not to move the remains of their dead relatives.
Orthodox Serbs from the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica have also visited the graves of their beloved ones in the southern part of the city, dominated by Albanians. According to the news portal Kossev.info, 80 percent of the gravestones there are destroyed.
See at:http://rs.n1info.com/a433083/English/NEWS/Serbs-visits-graves-in-Kosovo-find-them-damaged.html
