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Published by F18News,
February 9, 2005
MACEDONIA: Priests
and police raid and threaten Serbian Orthodox
believers
By Drasko Djenovic, Forum 18 News Service |
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Nearly a hundred members of the
Serbian Orthodox Church's (SOC) Archbishopric of
Ohrid in Macedonia were questioned by police and
searched, after they backed its failed
registration application, Forum 18 News Service
has learnt. Some were threatened they would be
kicked out of their jobs. Police also tried to
pressure them to sign a declaration that they had
left the SOC for the rival, government-backed
Macedonian Orthodox Church. When police questioned
church member Goran Bogatinoski in Prilep in early
January, they asked him why he allowed SOC monks
to stay in his house and why there were icons in
his home. Father David of the SOC Ohrid
Archbishopric complained to Forum 18 of a "new
wave" of police intimidation launched last
December. The Interior Ministry denies that police
questioned anyone just for signing the
registration application.
Following the rejection by the Macedonian
authorities of the registration application of the
Archbishopric of Ohrid of the Serbian Orthodox
Church (SOC), Forum 18 News Service has learnt
that dozens of those who signed the registration
application were visited by priests of the rival
Macedonian Orthodox Church (MOC) and the police to
pressure them to abandon their adherence to the
Church. Father David of the Archbishopric
complained to Forum 18 on 9 February of a "new
wave" of intimidation he says the police launched
in December 2004 against Serbian Orthodox
believers in Prilep and Resen, in southern
Macedonia. Police have attempted to pressure
individual believers into signing a formal
declaration that they have left the SOC and joined
the MOC, which enjoys government backing.
The head of the state religion committee, Cane
Mojanovski, has vowed "never" to give the church
registration (see F18News 4 February 2005
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=505).
It appears that after the Archbishopric lodged its
registration application, the religion committee
passed a copy to Metropolitan Peter of the MOC.
Priests of the MOC then visited about 30 families
who signed the application, and following the MOC
visits, police questioned and searched 97 people.
Goran Pavlovski, spokesperson of the Interior
Ministry, denied to Forum 18 that police had
questioned and searched the application
signatories, insisting that they only questioned
people "suspected of illegal acts". He also told
Forum 18 from the Macedonian capital Skopje on 9
February that the situation of the Archbishopric
of Ohrid "was given too big a meaning".
The Skopje office of the Organisation for Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) declined comment
for now on the problems facing the SOC in
Macedonia. "The OSCE is much concerned by the
difficulties believers might face in the country,"
mission spokesperson Maxime Filandrov told Forum
18 from Skopje on 7 February. "We are doing work
on this with the different stakeholders, mainly
via our Office for Democratic Institutions and
Human Rights in Warsaw, but we would not go public
on this issue at the moment in order not to
'overexpose' the ongoing efforts to find a
solution."
In December 2004 and January 2005 police tried to
pressure Riste Risteski from Prilep and his family
into evicting SOC monks from a house inherited
from his parents which he owns in the village of
Lagovo. The monks had been expelled by police on
13 January 2004 from the MOC monastery of the
Dormition of the Holy Mother of God – Treskavec,
near Prilep, after the monastery attempted to be
reconciled with the SOC. The MOC is not recognised
by any canonical Orthodox church in the world and
monks who sought "canonical unity" with the
Serbian Church have been expelled from their
monasteries by police (see eg. F18News 13 January
2004
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=228).
On Sunday 11 January 2004, police expelled nuns
from the Dormition of the Holy Mother of God
convent near Resen and from the St. Elijah –
Chardak convent, as well as monks from the St.
Demity – Marko's monastery near the capital
Skopje.
Risteski told Forum 18 on 8 February that on the
morning of 10 January 2005 he was taken from his
home to Prilep police station. There he was
interviewed for between 6 to 7 hours, his mobile
phone was taken from him and he was denied any
contact with a lawyer or his family. He said
police also denied him food and water. Officers
tried to get Risteski to sign a statement evicting
the SOC monks and threatened that he would "have
problems" because the monks are "Serbian spies who
want to spread hatred between Serbs and
Macedonians". After these threats, Risteski was
taken to the house where the SOC monks are, which
was searched without a warrant by police, and
filmed. Although Risteski has legal documents
proving ownership, the police threatened to
destroy the house, and questioned Risteski about
his property and finances.
On each of the next three days, Risteski was
summoned to the police station, verbally
threatened that he and his children would lose
their jobs, and on the third day asked to sign a
statement that he would not give the house to the
Archbishopric of Ohrid. When Risteski asked that
he be permitted to take the statement home and
consult his lawyer, the police took the statement
from him and have since left him alone.
Goran Bogatinoski from Prilep was also visited by
police at the beginning of January 2005, as they
wanted to question him why he allowed SOC monks to
stay in his house, as well as why there were icons
in his home. Bogatinoski was taken to the police
station and threatened that "if he made people
angry, people could stone his house and the police
will not be able to help him". He was also
threatened that the police would prevent him from
getting work. In 2004, Bogatinoski had been
questioned by police about who his friends were.
On 27 January 2005, police singled out the car of
an SOC priest entering Macedonia for a detailed
search and verbally insulted him. As the priest is
a Macedonian citizen, he could not legally be
refused entry. Similar border incidents, including
refusal to allow SOC priests to travel through
Macedonia on the way from Kosovo to Greece, took
place in 2003 and 2004 (see F18News 24 July 2003
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=113).
The Skopje-based Macedonian Helsinki Committee has
noted that the state's active support for the
Macedonian Orthodox Church, is contrary to the
constitution, restricts religious freedom, and
calls into question the secular character of the
state.
Among other incidents during 2004, Monika Dodova
from Veles in central Macedonia was invited for an
"informal talk" by police inspector Elica. Dodova
told Forum 18 on 9 February that she is a
philologist studying Latin and Classical Greek,
and that Inspector Elica questioned her about why
people study Greek, the names of her students and
whether she discusses the SOC with them. Dodova
refused to give the police her students' names.
Later, in June 2004 on her way to the monastery of
St. Prohor Pchinski in Serbia, where she was going
to take part as a godmother in a baptismal
service, police interrogated her closely. After
Dodova returned from Serbia, Inspector Elica rang
her to say that "she know that Dodova had
travelled to Serbia and why."
Also in 2004, the Macedonian parliament passed a
resolution supporting "the autocephalous status
and the unity of the Macedonian Orthodox Church"
(see F18News 28 January 2004
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=238)
and a paramilitary "state security" unit attacked
an SOC monastery with machine guns (see F18News 24
February 2004 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=259).
The monastery was subsequently demolished by
workers helped by about 500 police armed with
machine guns (see F18News http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=437).
Metropolitan Jovan, the head of the SOC
Archbishopric of Ohrid, is awaiting the results of
an appeal against an 18 month jail sentence
imposed on him (see F18News 4 February 2005
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=505).
A printer-friendly map of Macedonia is available
from http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/atlas/index.html?Parent=europe&Rootmap=macedo
Note that the formally recognised name of
Macedonia in international law is "The Former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia".
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