Serb returnee's house set on fire in Kosovo and Metohija for third time

The house of returnee Ranko Janackovic has been set on fire in Novo Selo Madjunsko, in the municipality of Vucitrn, in Kosovo and Metohija, the Office for Kosovo and Metohija announced today and demanded from the international community to ensure the safety of the family.

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In a statement, the Office assessed that "there is no doubt that behind this barbaric and uncivilized act is the intention of the extremists to expel the Janackovics with fire and violence from their own land" which the family is refusing to give up, but on the contrary, they want to work, build and live on their land, which is their livelihood.

It is stressed that the Office for Kosovo and Metohija and the president of the Provisional Authority are in contact with the Janackovic family, which has seven members, and that in agreement with them they will help them get back on their feet.

"Also, we demand from the international community to ensure the safety of the Janackovic family and that this attack on them is not just a mere dash in their reports, but that they take seriously all the anguish and hardship that this, but also other primarily Serb returnee families are facing and to specifically engage in ensuring their survival," the statement reads.

Novo Selo Madjunsko, inhabited by Serbs, was completely burned down in 1999 and all Serbs were expelled from there.

The Janackovic family that had moved to Priluzje managed to get a returnee house, but it was set on fire a second time shortly after the construction was finished.

Yesterday's fire is the third time that this hard-working family, who do not want to sell their property to Albanians, has had their house, where they wish to return, burned down.

The statement also recalled that in early July, the returnee house of Svetislav Jozic was set on fire in the village of Verice in the municipality of Istok, which "speaks volumes about planned and systematic attacks by Albanian extremists against Serb returnees, who are still the most vulnerable and under threat category of the population."

"Such attitude is fueled by anti-Serb rhetoric and politics led by the authorities of the provisional institutions in Pristina, and the policy of impunity is nothing but the wind at the sails of the extremists to persevere in their intentions," said the Office for Kosovo and Metohija.

(Telegraf.rs)