" I am not leaving Kosovo alive or dead. This is Serbian people, Serbian land, we have done no harm to anyone. The communists are to blame for everything,” he told me the day before. He said the same to Bishop Artemije.
These are some of the last words of Father Chariton, a monk at the Monastery of St. Archangels near Prizren, who was kidnapped and brutally killed in June 1999, at the age of 39, as recounted to us by the former abbot of this holy site, Stefan.
Testimony of a Muslim Woman
The body of Father Chariton was found decapitated more than a year after his disappearance, and forensic reports indicate that his head had been severed with a sharp object, his spine broken, and several ribs and the bones of his left arm fractured. The body was found dressed in a monastic robe and sweater, and the tears in the clothing indicated that his abdomen had been slit open and he had been stabbed in the heart with a knife. The head was never recovered.
In the meantime, a chilling testimony emerged from a Muslim woman, who recounted seeing mujahideen “playing football with the priest’s head.”
The evidence and the pathologist’s report were handed over to investigators at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, but this crime was never prosecuted. Archimandrite Stefan, then the abbot of the Monastery of the Holy Archangels and today the abbot of the Zočište Monastery, recounts the tragic fate of Father Chariton and the events that took place in the imperial city during those days. The head was never found. The mujahideen took it as a trophy. Who knows if it will ever be discovered,” says Father Stefan.
Monasteries Without Protection
“News about Father Chariton was brought to us by KFOR, who had come to arrange the protection of the Archangels, the Church of St. Paraskeva (Bogorodica Ljeviška), the Theological Seminary… But in those first days, they had no military protection. At that time, we did not know how many Serbs had remained, because around 6–7 thousand had left on June 13 with the mayor,” recounts Father Stefan.
His testimony also suggests that the German KFOR, under the command of General Fritz von Korff, might possess valuable information that could shed light on the horrific crimes committed against Serbs in Prizren during those days, specifically surrounding the withdrawal of the Yugoslav army and the arrival of NATO forces.
When all the events began—the withdrawal of our army from Prizren—we witnessed what happened on June 13 and 14, 1999. After the liturgy at the Archangels, which ended at 8 a.m., I would go with Father Chariton to Bishop Artemije to discuss what to do and how to act. The bishop had already said that if the people and the army were withdrawing, we needed to be ready to withdraw as well. For three days, we drove through the crowds in the center of Prizren, past the Teranda Hotel, to reach the bishopric. Early on, Father Zoran’s car was smashed when they saw he was a priest. But somehow, during those days, they let us pass, making way for us. It was unusual,” recounts Father Stefan.
On that third day after KFOR’s arrival, the city echoed with the shattering of glass, while the clergy watched as the crowd tore down and dragged away the large statue of Emperor Dušan.
In Prizren,” he adds, “there was great crowding and chaos during those days.
– “The OVK came in on German tanks. I saw with my own eyes how they marched and chanted. There were so many of them in the streets, it was as if they had sprung from the ground. Truly, if it had rained, not a drop could have reached the earth. We passed through that crowd for three days, all the way to June 15. That day, Father Chariton was driving our Golf. The day before, after all we had been through together, he told me, ‘I am not leaving Kosovo alive or dead.’ And indeed, God granted that he would not leave this holy land, neither alive nor dead.”
And on that day, June 15, they drove through the crowd by car, across the bridge in the center of Prizren, past the Theological Seminary, and through the fountain square.
–“We entered the main gates into the bishopric courtyard and parked the car by the small Church of St. George. When we stepped outside, Father Vasiliy, who had also become a monk with Father Chariton and called him ‘kume’ (godfather), called out from a window: ‘Kume, come on, Svetlana Miškova has prepared a pie for the bishop, if you can bring it to him. She called.’ Without a word, as if compelled, he got into the car and drove off. At that moment, Father Antonije appeared on the other side and shouted: ‘Where are you sending him? The OVK will kidnap him.’ Later we learned that 11 Serbs in Prizren were kidnapped that day,” recalls Father Stefan.
When Father Chariton had been gone for more than 15 minutes, Father Vasiliy became worried.
– Oh no, they’ve kidnapped him!” he shouted. Father Vasiliy called the people to whom Chariton had gone, but they said he hadn’t even reached them. They said the OVK was collecting weapons. Father Vasiliy became frightened, because he had sent him. We couldn’t learn anything, until in the afternoon the commander of the German KFOR, General von Korff, arrived with an interpreter whose chest badge read ‘Teut.’ It was learned from a German journalist who witnessed the event and, through KFOR, reported that Father Chariton had been stopped near the Military House by a group in OVK uniforms, was checked, and then placed in the back of our car while they sat in the front and drove away. From that moment, all trace of him was lost.
Brutal Torture, Then Execution
The monks of the Monastery of St. Archangels did not know what had happened to Father Chariton until November 2000.
– We did not know exactly what had happened to him until the following year, when KFOR discovered the location of his grave and what had been found. Father Mihailo took over the remains, which were given to him in three bags. The body was returned without a head. I noticed that there was very little clothing, and nowhere was there a cross. The rosary beads had been torn apart where the cross had been. The pathologist said it had been a painful death: six stab wounds to the abdomen, a crushed left hand and elbows. Who knows how much he had been beaten before his head was severed. He was tortured. The body was found in Prizren, behind the hospital. According to both our police and foreign reports, KFOR gave the order that everyone be buried. They know everything, but refuse to make it public. From a Muslim woman, we learned that the mujahideen played football with the head, which had a beard, of the priest, as she said,” recalls Father Stefan.
Author: J. L. Petković
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