Three Serbian non-governmental organizations, Women in Black, Humanitarian Law Center and Youth Initiative for Human Rights together with the families of the victims would participate in commemoration of the crimes committed against Serbs in Orahovac municipality, at the Belgrade cemetery “Orlovaca” today, Serbian media report.

During and after armed conflict that took place from 17 to 25 July 1998, in the territory of the Orahovac municipality between the Serbian police and army on one side and KLA on the other, crimes against the Serbian civilian population were committed.

Shaban Berisha (47) received three-month suspended sentence and EUR 200 fine over demolishing the memorial plaque dedicated to the missing journalists Djuro Slavuj and Ranko Penezic, while ethnic motives were excluded from the verdict, Association of Journalists of Serbia (UNS) said in a statement.

The verdict made by the Basic Court in Djakovica is not given to us yet, so it remains unclear if the prosecution gave up on the qualification of a criminal act as ethnically motivated, although the suspected person admitted it was a reason to demolish the plaque, UNS added.

A group of Albanian youngsters for days mistreats Serbian children playing in a playground in the upper part of Orahovac town and in front of the Serbian Orthodox Church there, RTV KIM learnt from a group of parents who initiated petition, addressed to the Kosovo police, seeking protection for their children.

Around hundreds of parents and other citizens have decided to initiate petition due to frequent verbal and physical attacks against Serb children by Albanian boys in Orahovac town. The petition would be submitted today.

In the period from 11 to 22 July 1998, more than 100 Serbs and Roma, mostly civilians were kidnapped in Orahovac municipality and taken to the KLA prison camps, while seven persons were murdered during the attack. The entire Serb population was expelled from the villages of Retimlje, Opterusa, and Zociste, the Association of Families of Kidnapped and Missing Persons in Kosovo said in a press statement.

All Souls Day was marked across Kosovo on Saturday. In addition to broken gravestones, Serbs from Orahovac in an old city cemetery found broken crosses on the tombs of Marija Radic and Zoran Lukic, buried there in March this year, GracanicaOnline portal reported.