ALBANIA: Skeletons exhumed near a church in southern Albania, on behalf of the families of Greek soldiers fallen in World War Two, to be analysed

Record ID: 564929

  • Title: ALBANIA: Skeletons exhumed near a church in southern Albania, on behalf of the families of Greek soldiers fallen in World War Two, to be analysed
  • Date: 6th June 2006
  • Summary: (EU) KUTALE, ALBANIA (JUNE 01, 2006) (REUTERS) PRIESTS IN FRONT OF THE CHURCH. (SOUNDBITE) (Albanian) VASIL THOMOLLARI, PRIEST, SAYS: "It is a great disgrace. These are purposeful attacks against the church, because the government wants the church building for its own interests. For nine years now that the police maltreats us. I call on all the faithful to rise up and protect the church"
  • Embargoed: 21st June 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Albania
  • Country: Albania
  • Topics: History
  • Reuters ID: LVA3ZY0TB8Z0JH956C6XIY0LX61N
  • Story Text: Skeletons exhumed near a church in southern Albania, on behalf of the families of Greek soldiers fallen in World War Two, are to be analysed to show whether they are indeed Greeks or Albanian villagers.
    An Orthodox priest and an ethnic Greek who hired five workers to exhume 69 skeletons and store them in shining metal caskets are under investigation for "violating graves", officials in the rural community told Reuters.
    The team worked undisturbed for a month until one worker by the name of Altin Ballabani was caught digging on his own, got fired and "denounced them to avenge himself", said Karafil Pasho of the local government.
    "To me, the chairman of the Piskova commune, the exhumation in the old village of Kosine is nothing but illegal. First of all, no permission was requested from the local government and no one has bothered to inform the authorities about the exhumation taking place in the St. Mary's church," he said.
    Altin Ballabani said the bones are not Greek but Albanian, and the dispute over just whose remains were laid to rest in the ancient churchyard has inflamed rivalries between Greeks and Albanians that date back years.
    Mounds on the east and south sides of the 12th Century Byzantine-style Saint Mary's Church in Kosine became the burial ground of Greek soldiers, who died at a field hospital there. But the site also served as the cemetery of Albanian villagers, with elm trees or stones marking the graves.
    Ballabani's mother Lefteri called on the priest involved to be removed.
    "This is a very old Orthodox church and the people were buried in the same grave. That is our custom. But the priest that allowed the exhumation of the bones should not stay here anymore, she said.
    She did not think the remains of any Greek soldiers had been found.
    "My son has not found anything. I couldn't tell. I think not. I'll show you where the Greek General lies. The village graves are right here, the Greek solders are down there, near the school."
    She said her husband's aunt, killed by a Nazi shell in 1943, had been buried near the Church, but her bones were missing too.
    South Albania's Bishopric backed Father Vasil Thomollari's statement that he had simply officiated over the exhumation in accordance with Orthodox rites at the request of relatives. He has not identified the group.
    "It is a great disgrace. These are purposeful attacks against the church, because the government wants the church building for its own interests. For nine years now that the police maltreats us. I call on all the faithful to rise up and protect the church," Thomollari told Reuters.
    But prosecutors have said the priest had not shown up to discuss handing over the bones as evidence. Thomollari said he refuses to talk to justice officials in protest against the authorities' treatment of his church.
    The prosecutor said two gravediggers spoke of an ethnic Greek Albanian citizen who told them where to excavate after consulting a map with the graves marked on it.
    Albania Prime Minister Sali Berisha has urged those who can prove their relatives' bones had been stolen to come forward.
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