Kosovo: Returnee homes damaged again

Unknown perpetrators once again demolished a part of a wall of a Serb returnee's house under construction in the Kosovo village of Zac. Representative of the Serb returnees Nebojsa Drljevic says that the incident happened on Monday at around 21:30 CET. Kosovo: Returnee homes damaged again Kosovo police, KPS, spokesman for the Pec region Zeqir Kelmendi has confirmed that the wall was demolished last night. “Two suspects, who participated in the stoning of the returnees’ camp before, were arrested last night and they have admitted demolishing the wall in a house which is being built for Serb returnees,” Kelmendi stated. According to Drljevic, the returnees are upset about the incident which happened only a week after two walls on another house was demolished, and concrete blocks for the construction of two more houses in the village were broken. A day later, a newly cleaned well, from which the construction workers and the returnees were taking water, had been covered with soil. Representatives of Kosovo police said at the time that three underage ethnic Albanians had been detained over the incident and that several persons were investigated Drljevic stressed that some returnees announced that they would leave the camp because they did not feel that the Kosovo Albanian authorities were showing the will to prevent the attacks on the returnees and their properties and the houses which were being built by the Kosovo Return and Communities Ministry. Ever since the group of Serb families, driven out of their homes and land in 1999, returned in March, they were subjected to various forms of pressure, including shots being fired and stones thrown at their temporary tent camp, while two returnees were physically attacked. Local ethnic Albanians also staged protests against the returnees, saying they had been involved in war crimes. The Serbs, however, believe that the opposition to their return stems from the Albanians' wish to continue usurping their farmland. A file photo of the returnee camp in Zac (Beta)

Kosovo: Returnee homes damaged again

Kosovo police, KPS, spokesman for the Peć region Zeqir Kelmendi has confirmed that the wall was demolished last night.

“Two suspects, who participated in the stoning of the returnees’ camp before, were arrested last night and they have admitted demolishing the wall in a house which is being built for Serb returnees,” Kelmendi stated.

According to Drljević, the returnees are upset about the incident which happened only a week after two walls on another house was demolished, and concrete blocks for the construction of two more houses in the village were broken.

A day later, a newly cleaned well, from which the construction workers and the returnees were taking water, had been covered with soil.

Representatives of Kosovo police said at the time that three underage ethnic Albanians had been detained over the incident and that several persons were investigated

Drljević stressed that some returnees announced that they would leave the camp because they did not feel that the Kosovo Albanian authorities were showing the will to prevent the attacks on the returnees and their properties and the houses which were being built by the Kosovo Return and Communities Ministry.

Ever since the group of Serb families, driven out of their homes and land in 1999, returned in March, they were subjected to various forms of pressure, including shots being fired and stones thrown at their temporary tent camp, while two returnees were physically attacked.

Local ethnic Albanians also staged protests against the returnees, saying they had been involved in war crimes. The Serbs, however, believe that the opposition to their return stems from the Albanians' wish to continue usurping their farmland.