Serbian Orthodox Church

Information Service of
the Serbian Orthodox Church
April 8, 2004

PATRIARCH PAVLE'S LETTER TO THE SFOR COMMANDER

(BELGRADE) 2 April 2004 – His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Pavle today wrote a letter to Major General Virgil L. Packett II, Commander of the SFOR in Bosnia and Herzegovina, stating:

Already several times over, We have demanded of the SFOR Command, the High Representative of International Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as from the Secretary General of the United Nations, to completely stop the unnecessary and improper disturbance of the Orthodox inhabitants of the town Pale in district of Romanija, as well as with destruction of their property by those military forces, which have come to support this part of Europe to preserve peace, and establish understanding and tolerance. The last time We wrote to You for this same reason was last February, when the forces You command, with full military equipment, under the pretext of searching for persons suspected of war crimes, during Christmas holidays assaulted the church and flats of Orthodox priests on Pale, where they performed a search and intimidated their family members and underage persons, children.

However, instead of this letter convincing You that the priests and their household did not participate in the actions for which You apparently suspect them of, You, Mr. General, ordered a real assault upon their homes be undertaken on the 1st of April 2004, just before Easter holidays. During the dead of night, using the most dangerous explosive means, Your soldiers broke through the roof, doors and windows entering into their house and demolishing it completely. Consequently, Archpriest-Stavrophor Jeremija Starovlah and his son, catechist Aleksandar, were wounded from the destructive explosions. However, Your soldiers, whom our people call "peacemakers", as though that was not enough, bound the mortally-wounded Archpriest and his son, and so bound, beat them with riffle butts, boots and whatever else they had at their disposal. In short, they beat them until they were black and blue, to the very point of death. All the time during this action, the Archpriest's wife was faced with a rifle, with soldier's finger on the trigger, so that she was not be able to offer any aid to her husband and son. These facts, Mr. General, are also well known to You. As We write these lines to You, the doctors have been continually fighting for the lives of these two Christians, who suffer for the same reason for which so many martyrs suffered in Roman times – for Christ's sake.

If it has not been clear so far to You, Mr. General, that Serbian priests do not hide those accused of war crimes, We hope that it is now obvious. Or, perhaps, if it is not clear, should we again expect of those, whom we would like to regard as people of good will, to march again with rifles, bombs and boots against our sacred churches, and the lives of our priests and their families.

At the same time, We inform You that this letter of Ours will be communicated to the wider public.

Respectfully,

ABM and SERBIAN PATRIARCH,
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