BISHOP ILARION: WE ARE TRYING TO PRESERVE LAND SPRINKLED WITH BLOOD OF SERBIAN BOYS

PEĆ, AUGUST 13 /SRNA/ - His Eminence Bishop Ilarion of Novo Brdo served a memorial service at the Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God in Goraždevac near Peć for Serbian boys Panto Dakić and Ivan Jovović, who were killed on this day 23 years ago.

The bishop urged those present to strive to preserve their ancestral land, especially the land sprinkled with the blood of Ivan and Panto. “I would ask you to remain steadfast in your efforts. Know that God’s reward and blessing will not be late in coming,” Bishop Ilarion said in his sermon following the memorial service. The bishop said that it is also their duty to ensure that Serbs remain on their ancestral land, Serbian media in Belgrade reported. “Let us not sell cheaply, if I may put it that way, the innocent blood of our children that was shed. It obliges us,” Bishop Ilarion concluded. Ivan Jovović and Panto Dakić were killed on August 13, 2003, when Albanian attackers opened fire on a group of Serbian children and young people who were swimming in the Bistrica River near Goraždevac. Twelve-year-old Panto and 19-year-old Ivan were killed in the attack, while four other children were wounded. No one has been held accountable for the crime to this day.