THE MURDER OF DIMITRIJE POPOVIĆ IN GRAČANICA - A SYMBOL OF SERBS’ SUFFERING

BELGRADE, JUNE 5 /SRNA/ – Seventeen-year-old Dimitrije Popović was murdered in Gračanica today in 2004, and his tragic fate stands as one of the symbols of the suffering of the Serb people in Kosovo and Metohija following the arrival of international forces, the Serbia’s parliamentary Office for Kosovo and Metohija announced.

The statement recalls that Popović was killed without any provocation by a minor Albanian using a firearm, and that his young life was cut short as a result of senseless hatred. “The fatal year of 2004, in which many Serbs suffered and lost everything they had in a surge of mindless chauvinistic hatred, serves as an eternal warning of how fragile and unstable peace in Kosovo and Metohija is, and how threatened the Serbs and members of other non-Albanian communities remain,” the Office emphasized. The Office also warned that in recent times, violence against the Serb people in Kosovo and Metohija has become institutionalized and is mainly carried out through attacks on Serb institutions and violations of human and political rights. “In this context, the crime continues even today before the eyes of the international community, because the ultimate goal of all this violence, regardless of its specific forms, is the exodus of Serbs,” the statement pointed out. The statement also emphasizes that the Serbs in Gračanica are determined to remain on their ancestral land, gathered around one of the greatest Serb sanctities, and that the Office for Kosovo and Metohija will continue to support and assist them in this. Seventeen-year-old Dimitrije Popović was killed on June 5, 2004, in Gračanica, when an Albanian, Aljbert Krasniqi, opened fire with an automatic weapon at him and three of his friends while they were waiting in a fast-food restaurant.