Wrote: Festim Rizanaj
Through several photos published on Instagram (December 13), the Draganac Monastery claims that the cemeteries of the Serbian community in Gjilan have been damaged.
Despite the fact that this monastery does not allude to the ethnicity of the perpetrator or perpetrators of the act, Petar Petkovic, the head of the Office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia, has claimed that the act was carried out by "Albanian extremists."
Petkovic does not provide any facts for this claim, while the Kosovo Police has announced that we are dealing with a case that was recorded years ago.
What did the Draganac Monastery say?
After visiting the Serbian cemetery in Gjilan, the monks of the Draganac monastery reported a "horrific" sight with "destroyed monuments" and "desecrated crosses," without labeling anyone.
In an Instagram post, they write: “Today we visited the Serbian cemetery in Gjilan. The Albanian and Serbian cemeteries are next to each other, but the view is completely different. On one side there is order, greenery and preserved monuments; on the other side with ruined monuments, erased names and weeds – a faint memory of a city where over 15,000 Serbs once lived. Even the living are not faring any better today.”
What did Petar Petkovic say?
Petar Petkovic, taking cue from this post by the Draganac Monastery, which became news in the Serbian-language media, on the "X" platform stated that "since 1999, 10 thousand Serbian graves have been destroyed in Kosovo."
"The same fate befell the cemeteries of Gjilan, a city ethnically cleansed by Serbs. While Pristina and Kurti persecute Serbs, their extremists still do not give peace to the dead Serbs, the graves have been broken, desecrated and riddled with bullets," alluding that this action in the cemeteries in Gjilan was carried out by Albanians.
This statement of his was reported in several Serbian-language media outlets. (here, here)
What did the Kosovo Police say about this claim?
Valon Osmani, information officer from the Regional Police Directorate, Gjilan, in a response to Hibrid.info via email, said that the relevant units have gone to the scene and verified the information.
"After investigations, it was determined that this is not a new injury, but a case that had been identified several years ago."
Damage to Serbian cemeteries
The Office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia and its head, Petar Petkovic, from time to time try to create the narrative that the number of interethnic incidents targeting Serbs has increased in Kosovo. Hibrid.info has covered the case of damage to the Serbian cemetery in Kishnica, Gracanica (December 2021), where the Office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia considers this action to be ethnically motivated, although the Kosovo Police has not provided information about the case; as well as the case of damage to a grave in the Serbian cemetery in Kllokot (October 2022) where the Office for Kosovo interprets without facts that "Albanians driven by interethnic hatred" have committed this act, even though the Kosovo Police reports state that the family members of the deceased whose grave was damaged do not suspect anyone in connection with the event; as well as the case in the South of Mitrovica (November 2022) and it is not proven that this action was carried out by Albanians.
Analyze:
On December 13, the Draganac Monastery published several photos on Instagram claiming that the cemetery of the Serbian community in Gjilan/Gnjilane had been damaged.
While the monastery did not name the possible perpetrators, Petar Petkovic, head of the Office for Kosovo in the Serbian Government, described the act as the work of "Albanian extremists."
However, Petkovic does not provide evidence for these claims, while the Kosovo Police has confirmed that the case is old and has been documented for years.
Based on the working methodology, hibrid.info evaluates it as a "conspiracy theory".
Reasoning:
"Conspiracy theories" are considered to be informational content that contains a false or unverifiable description of a phenomenon, event or person, presenting it as part or the result of a secret plan ("conspiracy"). The characteristic of these contents is that they present a series of claims, presented as facts, between which cause-effect relationships are established, without providing any reliable evidence.
Unsubstantiated statements are assessments of statements that political and public figures with influence on public opinion make with claims that are not based on facts.