Wrote: Festim Rizanaj
The Serbian-language media outlet, "Alo.rs", has published an article claiming that on the night between April 1 and 2, 2025, a masked person entered the Church of St. Mary in Rahovec and destroyed the official flag of the Serbian Orthodox Church, which was located in the area surrounding the church.
This media outlet claims in its headline that the masked person who committed the crime is Albanian, but does not provide any facts for this.
What happened in the Church of St. Mary in Rahovec?
According to security cameras, the incident was recorded at 00:36, when the person reached the church gate and after 9 minutes entered the courtyard and tore the flag. The Diocese of Raška-Prizren has immediately requested a response.
On the night between 1 and 2 April 2025, a masked person was recorded by security cameras near the Church of St. Mary in Rahovec, where he entered the courtyard and destroyed the official flag of the Serbian Orthodox Church. After tearing the flag, he stole another flag. The incident was immediately reported to the police. The Diocese of Raška-Prizren stressed that the destroyed flag is not a political flag, but the official flag of the Serbian Orthodox Church, without disclosing the motives and suspicions about the perpetrators. (here)
The police report regarding the case states that, on 02.04.2025 at 00:36, the male Kosovar complainant reported that unknown persons are suspected of having forcibly entered the facility and damaged and taken two flags. Therefore, the Kosovo Police refers to the suspect as unknown, as they have not been able to identify the person.
Regarding the case, the Office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia has also reacted, emphasizing that the tearing down of the church flag in Rahovec is inspired by the daily anti-Serbian rhetoric of Pristina. (here) This Office links, without facts, incidents in Serb-majority settlements, or related to the Serbian community in Kosovo, with the claim that they are instigated by official Pristina, the Government and the Prime Minister.
Analyze:
The media outlet "Alo.rs" has published an article claiming that a masked person destroyed the official flag of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Rahovec, linking this incident to the Albanian community, but without providing evidence for this.
According to security cameras, the event was recorded on April 1, 2025, where a masked person entered the yard and tore the flag, stealing another flag, while the Kosovo Police were unable to identify the perpetrator.
The Office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia has reacted by linking the incident to Pristina's anti-Serb rhetoric, but without presenting concrete evidence regarding the motives or the identity of the perpetrators.
Based on the working methodology, hibrid.info qualifies this claim 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.