Raška-Prizren Eparchy condemns flag placement at Lipjan church

The Raška-Prizren Eparchy of the Serbian Orthodox Church has strongly condemned an incident in Lipjan, Kosovo, where two individuals of Albanian nationality placed flags of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and the Republic of Albania on the fence of a church courtyard.

The site contains two medieval religious structures: the 14th-century Church of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Church of Saints Florus and Laurus. According to the Eparchy, Kosovo Police intercepted the individuals during the act, detained them, and removed the flags.

The Eparchy announced plans to file criminal charges once official identification of the suspects is provided by the police. They are requesting that authorities investigate the incident not merely as vandalism or a public order offense, but as a potential incitement of ethnic and religious hatred, intimidation of the remaining Serbian population, and the intentional desecration of protected medieval religious and cultural heritage.