The increasingly difficult position of the Serbian people and the church in Kosovo and Metohija

Statement of the Diocese of Raška and Prizren

After a long period of restraint, numerous discussions with international representatives, and sustained efforts to resolve the existing problems peacefully, directly and in a spirit of good will, the Diocese of Raška and Prizren feels a pastoral and moral obligation to draw public attention to the increasingly difficult position of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Serbian people in Kosovo, a situation that has been seriously aggravated by the conduct of Kosovo institutions towards the Serbian community. We wish particularly to emphasise violations of the rights of the Church and her faithful by the Kosovo Police, which carries out actions on the ground directed against members of the Serbian people and the Serbian Orthodox Church, and which is increasingly perceived by the Serbian people not as an institution whose task is to protect and assist all citizens equally, but as a direct instrument of pressure aimed at making life more difficult for our people and our Church.

With profound regret, we must state that relations between the Serbian community and our Church, on the one hand, and Kosovo institutions, on the other, and especially confidence in the Kosovo Police, have never been at such a low level throughout the entire post-war period. This conclusion is not based on a single isolated event, but on a prolonged series of actions which can in no way be justified as individual failures and which, from day to day, increasingly display the characteristics of systematic discrimination.

Although we regularly avoid harsher assessments, it is our firm conviction that, if this situation continues without an international response, it may lead to the complete disappearance of the Serbian people from Kosovo. Recent international reports have likewise pointed to deteriorating relations with the Serbian community, a low level of trust in institutions, extremely provocative and aggressive police conduct, and measures that obstruct access to essential public services and the implementation of protective mechanisms intended to safeguard the rights of the Serbian community and the Church.

By its very nature and its proclaimed multi-ethnic role, the Kosovo Police should serve all citizens, protect the most vulnerable and contribute to building trust among communities. We do not wish unjustly to accuse those individuals who endeavour to perform their duties properly. However, the work of an institution is not assessed by exceptions, but by its general pattern of conduct and by whether the most vulnerable communities perceive it as a source of protection or as a source of threat. For an increasing number of Serbs, the Kosovo Police no longer represents a bridge of trust, but is perceived as an instrument of pressure, selective control and systematic intimidation.

The recent commemoration of Vidovdan at Gazimestan on 28 June revealed the full depth of that mistrust. A total of 37 Serbs, including one minor, were detained, while 36 were held after the peaceful conclusion of the memorial service, even though the police themselves stated that there had been no incidents threatening the course of the gathering. No evidence has been presented to the public that those detained used any form of force against police officers or any other citizen. According to the information available, proceedings were initiated primarily because of the singing of patriotic songs and other forms of expressing Serbian identity, forms of expression which are permitted under the Constitution and the law for all communities, including the Serbian community, but which in practice are prosecuted and punished when used by Serbs while being tolerated when used by Kosovo Albanians.

At the same time, documented testimonies emerged concerning humiliating searches, the arrogant use of police force, obstruction of journalists in carrying out their work, and, most seriously, severe and degrading mistreatment of some of those detained, which prompted the Ombudsperson Institution to open proceedings.

Regrettably, these abuses by the police were largely ignored in Albanian public discourse, while Serbs were collectively portrayed as disturbers of the peace, even though not a single case of violence or material damage was recorded. According to analyses by legal experts, the judicial proceedings against the accused were also marked by numerous irregularities, disregard for the rights of the defendants, and a clear intention to punish those detained as swiftly and severely as possible. In this way, a message was sent that there can be no peaceful celebration of Vidovdan for Serbs, just as only Serbs are denied the freedom to display their national symbols. According to our information, international reports concerning these abuses by the Kosovo Police have also been sent to Geneva and New York.

Our Church does not seek to place anyone above the law and has never justified calls to hatred, violence or the endangerment of others, but has consistently called for peaceful coexistence and freedom for all, regardless of ethnic origin. However, the law must be applied justly, without prejudice and on the basis of verifiable evidence. A song, a prayer, traditional clothing, a national symbol or the peaceful expression of identity cannot in themselves be treated as a security threat. When drastic measures are applied to members of one community but not to others in comparable circumstances, the issue is no longer merely one of public order, but of equality before the law and protection from discrimination.

Security therefore cannot be measured solely by the absence of serious crimes, abductions or open mass attacks. A community is not truly secure if its members live in constant fear of detention, searches, administrative penalties, entry bans, various forms of harassment and humiliation, or the inability to use their schools, healthcare institutions and religious buildings. The gradual erosion of everyday life may be less visible than open violence, but its ultimate consequence is no less grave. It leads to the departure of people and the irreversible disappearance of an entire community under continuous and systematic pressure.

Particular concern is caused by the ineffective implementation of the Law on Special Protective Zones. This law is not a political recommendation, but a binding legal mechanism established to ensure the peaceful life and activity of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the protection of her holy sites, above all protection from the actions of Kosovo institutions. Over the past year and somewhat longer, serious violations of the protective zones around the Hermitage of Saint Peter of Koriša, the Monastery of the Mother of God of Hvosno, and the protective zone surrounding Gračanica Monastery have been recorded, without compliance with or respect for procedures prescribed by law. The absence of a timely and decisive response by the competent institutions calls into question the very purpose of the law and strengthens the conviction that the rights of the Church may be disregarded without any consequences. There is also more than sufficient reason to fear that Kosovo institutions, in the absence of functioning protective mechanisms, may forcibly take control of the Special Protective Zones and act in precisely the manner for which those zones were originally established, namely, by ignoring or deliberately misinterpreting their own laws, violating the rights of the Church and thereby making her continued survival in Kosovo increasingly difficult.

At the same time, numerous attacks, break-ins, thefts and acts of desecration against Serbian Orthodox churches have, almost as a rule, not received an effective judicial or police response. We draw attention to the dangerous practice of the Kosovo Police, also noted in international reports, of treating attacks against the Church merely as property damage or vandalism, thereby concealing the scale of interreligious and interethnic violence that remains present and tolerated in Kosovo. Particularly troubling is the case of two successive break-ins at the Serbian Orthodox Church of the Holy Archangel Michael in Rakitnica, where the Diocese twice attempted, in the presence of EULEX representatives, to report the first intrusion, yet the police refused to receive the complaint or conduct an investigation.

Moreover, in the most recent case, when diocesan officials reported the break-in committed by Nikola Xhufka, an Albanian citizen who led these intrusions, the police threatened those diocesan officials and even questioned them on suspicion of the very offence for which they had reported the intruder. Meanwhile, Nikola Xhufka continues to move freely throughout Kosovo and falsely presents himself as the “archbishop” of a canonically and legally non-existent church, publicly boasting of having broken into a church belonging to the Serbian Orthodox Church and openly expressing claims over Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries. He is regularly promoted in the media and is even received by Kosovo mayors, while successfully ignoring the criminal complaint filed against him by the Diocese. When perpetrators of criminal acts are permitted to do as they please, while the police and courts fail to take the action required by law, a dangerous atmosphere of impunity is created, one that has particularly harmful consequences for the most vulnerable communities.

At the same time, dozens of Serbs are being arrested throughout Kosovo and Metohija, twenty-seven years after the war, most often on the basis of insufficiently established facts concerning their alleged participation in war crimes, even though they had lived peacefully for twenty-seven years and no question of their responsibility had previously been raised. The methods of gathering evidence, the unqualified reliance placed on witnesses, and the conduct of judicial proceedings provide no meaningful guarantee of a fair process, as has also been documented in a recent OSCE report.

Many have also forgotten the case of a monk of our Diocese, Father Fotije Kostovski, who was expelled from Kosovo by the police three years ago without any explanation whatsoever. No explanation was given even to representatives of EULEX and the OSCE, creating a dangerous precedent and clearly demonstrating the intentions of the Kosovo Police.

A particularly painful example of institutional arbitrariness is the situation of the Church of Christ the Saviour in Pristina. The church and the land parcels on which it stands are duly registered as property of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and our ownership has never been challenged by any court. Nevertheless, on several occasions, and without presenting any court decision depriving the Church of access, the police prevented Metropolitan Teodosije, the clergy and the faithful from entering the church, cleaning it and celebrating the Divine Liturgy. In this case, a police decision has in practice been given precedence over property rights, freedom of religion and the absence of any judicial prohibition, while the police, through verbal threats, have prevented a religious community from using its own place of worship.

The Diocese is particularly concerned about the situation surrounding Visoki Dečani Monastery. The issue of the proposed construction of a transit road beside the monastery, despite the fact that both the EU and the OSCE declared it unlawful, together with dangerous development and urban planning proposals and the absence of full implementation of the Special Protective Zone regime, sends a clear message to the monastery that it cannot rely upon institutional protection.

The monastery has been subjected to four armed attacks over the past twenty-seven years. The Diocese has recently received an increasing number of reports that the police stop, question and search visitors after they leave the immediate area protected by KFOR, even though their visits were peaceful and exclusively pilgrim-related. Such conduct creates the impression that visiting a Christian monastery constitutes an offence in itself. For all these reasons, the continued direct protection of Visoki Dečani by KFOR remains, more than ever, an indispensable security guarantee, not a privilege of any kind. Calls by Kosovo political representatives for the removal of KFOR’s presence around the monastery, under present conditions, would constitute a major factor of further instability. The Kosovo Police has built neither the trust nor the capacity required to protect Visoki Dečani Monastery in place of KFOR.

In the event of a renewed attempt to construct the transit road unlawfully, which is almost certain to occur, it is difficult to expect that the Kosovo Police would stop such construction on the ground, as KFOR has done. In this way, yet another Special Protective Zone would be rendered meaningless, while a world-renowned medieval monastery and the Church would be confronted with a fait accompli brought about through the violation of a law of vital importance. The absence of serious incidents in recent years is not the result of an improvement in the general situation, but primarily the consequence of the effectiveness and importance of KFOR’s presence around this monastery, which, together with the Patriarchate of Peć, Gračanica and the Church of the Mother of God of Ljeviša, has been inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger since 2005.

The Diocese is additionally concerned by discriminatory measures and announcements that may endanger the operation of healthcare, educational and social institutions in Serbian-majority areas, as well as the right of employees and users of those institutions to remain in their homes and continue a normal life. The closure or obstruction of the work of these institutions, which are of crucial importance to the Serbian people, directly affects the elderly and the sick, children, students and families. European Commission reports have also indicated that uncoordinated measures directed at institutions operating in Serbian communities have restricted access to essential services and further diminished the confidence of the local population. Together with the implementation of the disputed Law on Foreigners, under which many Serbs who live in this region, or who were born here and were subsequently forced into displacement, are automatically declared foreigners, an atmosphere is being created in which the Serbian people receive the direct message that they are not welcome and should either leave or accept the complete loss of their identity, history and rights.

All of this is accompanied by the continuous weakening of rights guaranteed to the Serbian Orthodox Church under Annex V of the Ahtisaari Plan and the laws arising from it. Rights relating to the management, access, restoration and protection of Church property are not temporary privileges that may be arbitrarily restricted or reinterpreted according to political circumstances. They are legal guarantees without which there can be no freedom of religion, no protection of cultural heritage and no credible multi-ethnic legal order.

Moreover, the conduct of Kosovo institutions, which has reached its greatest intensity over the past several years, fully justifies not only the strict implementation of existing protective mechanisms, but also the urgent resolution of the status of the Serbian Orthodox Church in accordance with the Brussels agreements, so that the Church may at the very least regain the essential protection she so urgently requires.

Institutional pressure by Kosovo authorities is accompanied by a deeply concerning atmosphere in parts of the Kosovo media, where the Serbian Orthodox Church is portrayed as a foreign, politically undesirable or historically illegitimate presence, while the Serbian identity of its spiritual and cultural heritage is publicly denied. Unpunished public calls for the demolition or repurposing of churches, challenges to Church property, and the portrayal of clergy, monastics and faithful as a security problem further deepen mistrust and create a social climate of persecution and imposed ethnically based collective guilt.

The online space has been flooded by coordinated activity from accounts that deny historically indisputable facts, issue the most vulgar calls for harm to be inflicted upon the Serbian Orthodox Church and her members, and glorify individuals who act in any way against the Church or the Serbian people. In this way, animosity towards everything Serbian is being rapidly fostered among younger generations, increasing the risk of violence.

Regrettably, such a society in Kosovo is far removed from European values and from the building of a tolerant and multicultural social order, despite the assurances given to us by the international community when a number of states recognised Kosovo. It is precisely for this reason that we expect public reactions and protection from that same international community, since we warned in a timely manner of the possibility that precisely such a society and system could emerge.

We hope and pray that the international community will not permit such an outcome and that its responses will not be confined to verbal messages without public action, but that it will activate concrete mechanisms demonstrating what kind of society is acceptable in twenty-first-century Europe. The conduct of Kosovo institutions towards Serbs constitutes a serious factor of instability and encourages similar patterns of conduct elsewhere. These problems therefore possess a wider regional dimension.

For years, the Diocese of Raška and Prizren has endeavoured to avoid contributing in any way to inflammatory rhetoric and has advocated the rights of all citizens. We have raised all problems responsibly, in direct discussions with international representatives and, where possible, with Kosovo institutions. Our restraint, however, must not be misinterpreted as indifferent acceptance of the present situation, in which we are witnessing the systematic erosion of our rights. When problems repeatedly recur, when agreements produce no change on the ground, and when every warning is followed by new and more intense pressure, the Church has a duty to raise her voice.

The reality on the ground stands in profound contradiction to the official image of a safe and equal life for all communities. Kosovo is increasingly being shaped, in institutional and public life, without the genuine participation or confidence of the Serbian community, as an ethnically Albanian society, contrary to the proclaimed multi-ethnic character of its legal order. No society can be described as successful if one community lives under continuous pressure and under an imposed burden of collective guilt, without any realistic possibility of receiving protection from institutions.

We therefore call upon Kosovo institutions to ensure the full and equal application of the law, effective investigations into all attacks against churches and Serbian communities, unhindered access by the Church to her own property, respect for the Special Protective Zones, and independent scrutiny of Kosovo Police conduct in cases involving documented allegations of abuse of authority, humiliation or ethnically selective treatment. The police must uphold the law, but must also demonstrate through their actions that the law applies equally to all.

At the same time, we call upon the international community not to reduce its diplomatic and security presence or engagement at a time when interethnic trust is at its lowest point and institutional protection mechanisms are having no meaningful effect.

The presence of KFOR, including the direct protection of Visoki Dečani Monastery, as well as its visible security and civil-military engagement in vulnerable and isolated Serbian communities, remains of essential importance. Any abolition or reduction of the existing regime of international protection now being discussed could become a major factor of further instability and would encourage extremist circles to continue exerting pressure upon the Serbian people and the Church.

Reducing or removing the international presence under such circumstances would not demonstrate normalisation, but would increase the risk that Kosovo once again become a source of serious instability throughout the region. It would also render the process of normalisation between Belgrade and Pristina almost impossible, a process which is further obstructed by every act of pressure exerted against the Serbian people by Kosovo institutions.

The Serbian Orthodox Church remains committed, in accordance with the Gospel, to peace, dialogue, the rule of law and the dignity of every human being, regardless of ethnic or religious origin. At the same time, we emphasise that peace cannot rest upon the fear of one community, the selective application of law and discrimination, nor can regional stability be built upon the systematic disregard of the problems of a community that has, for twenty-seven years, been exposed to numerous acts of violence, persecution and pressure.

The rule of law must serve justice and life. It must not become a pretext enabling Kosovo institutions to continue conduct that directly leads towards the disappearance of the Serbian people and makes life impossible for the Serbian Orthodox Church, which, together with her faithful, has existed here for centuries.

Gračanica and Prizren, 17 July 2026