Associations of writers of Kosovo and Metohija and Vojvodina, Montenegro, highest representatives of the federal and Serbian authorities, some UNMiK representatives from Pristina (Susan Manuel, spokesperson) also expressed their dissatisfaction.
However, although not deliberately, Danas mistakenly reported allegations of an anonymous woman, who claimed to be a secretary of the Association of Serbian Writers, and asserted that Petar Saric had been indicted before, "for embezzlement and looting of the publishing house he headed". According to our anonymous source, Saric allegedly used that money to buy a pharmacy and a few apartments for his wife.
In the meantime we found out the truth, which is totally different. First, the anonymous source is not a secretary of the Association of Serbian Writers, and Saric not only does not own "several apartments" nut never event bought an apartment, not counting the purchase of his own apartment in Pristina [in the former, Socialist Yugoslavia, individuals only had tenancy rights to apartments, although in practice these could be inherited or transferred; with the switch to capitalism, owners of tenancy rights were given the right of preferential purchase of their apartments]. As far as the "purchased pharmacy" is considered, Saric's wife has been a pharmacist for more than 40 years; after Saric sent the well-known open letter to Azem Vllasi (at the time the head of the Provincial League of Communists in Kosovo), published in Politika on September 8, 1987, she was forced to leave her job in Pristina and started a private pharmacy in Strpce, in a rented space. That happened on December 14, 1990, at the time when Petar Saric was definitely not either editor-in-chief or director of the publishing house Jedinstvo; all of this clearly shows that these allegations were false.
Regarding the "looting of the publishing house he headed" the truth is that Saric literally risked his life in order to save the book fund of the publishing house he managed, created for more than 50 years. Using KFOR trucks he managed to transport from the Press House in Pristina, all the documentation and almost all the books (five trucks) to Strpce. The books, worth millions, are now kept in primary school "Staja Markovic". It also turned out that Saric had never been indicted on criminal charges.
Writer Petar Saric, more dismayed by "anonymous allegations" than his prison term in Gnjilane, is today a free man. Since he refused to talk about recent events, we asked him:
DANAS: What is it like to be a Serb in Kosovo today?
If we know the answer, then the question becomes not only superfluous, but also insulting. This is not an introduction into another jeremiad, I detest that. Besides, I am convinced that refugees from Kosovo (not all of them, of course) have it much worse than we, who stayed here. Those unfortunate souls, far away from Kosovo, are supposed to be safe; but they drag with themselves other troubles, other uncertainties, other stresses. Most of them are beset by humiliation to which they haven't been accustomed in Kosovo and Metohija. And that, an old curse, can be worse than death!
Nevertheless, your question stays with me, which must indicate that it is an important one; let me just tell you that I've had enough of our excessively loud and excessively empty patriotism. We behaved as if we were omnipotent and untouchable, as if oceans only reached up to our knees; and we stumbled into a hole that we dug for ourselves for a long, long time. Thus, it sometimes seems to me that it is today easier to be "a Serb" in Kosovo (because so few of us remain) than in Nis or Belgrade. Let me ask you, then, what is it like to be a Serb in Serbia today?! In the nineties, I read an article, while working for Jedinstvo, entitled "Is it allowed to speak Serbian in Srbica"!? [a town, Skenderaj in Albanian] That question still rings out in my mind, although it has lost the need for both the question and exclamation mark long time ago.
Is the security situation in Kosovo getting better?
Just when you believe that things are getting better (Covic is working skillfully and as much as he can), then you read or hear that someone you know or used to know has been murdered. We, who stayed in Kosovo, mostly know each other. There are so few of us, and our troubles are so great. And the international community does not help us. In Strpce, they finally managed to impose an ethnic Albanian for a mayor, with the assistance of armed soldiers and armored troop carriers, which is unprecedented for our area [75% Serb population]. But, in September, we'll have local elections and all of us will vote. Nevertheless, incidents occur less often than before. UNMiK and KFOR are not showing more understanding for us. It is, however, certain that they only react to signals coming from abroad, from the US and other NATO powers above all. And those signs, especially since the arrival of Michael Steiner, appear to be more visible and encouraging. Stenier promised to bring Serbs back to Kosovo!
If Kosovo became a mono-ethnic territory, which it practically is now, then it would be more difficult, or impossible, to control ethnic Albanians. And the so called international community will not allow that. Albanians are aware of that.
Do you write at all, and what about?
What else can I do on this lonely island with diameter of only 10 kilometers [6.5 miles]? I am totally engrossed in a voluminous manuscript, with the working title "Kosovo diary". If it weren't for events that affect us here, I would never learn certain things about myself. Even those without talent would start writing here. To write here is to squeal.
What are the reactions of ethnic Albanian intellectuals to the status and suffering of the remaining Serbs?
They are silent. Some five years ago, after seeing that the plaque on the Health Center in Pristina in Albanian was taken off, so that only the one in Serbian remained, I reacted. I stated for TV Pristina that all public signs must also be written in Albanian language! Today, when all Serbs and Serb intellectuals are in immeasurably worse situation, when there are hardly any of us left in the cities, while our apartments are either occupied or rented by ethnic Albanians, ethnic Albanian intellectuals are silent. And I do know that some of them are not welcoming our suffering, including the exodus, which has this time struck the Serbs. They must keep quiet.
Is there any hope for the return of Serbs and multi-ethnic Kosovo?
There is hope! Without hope, we, Serbs, would not be able to last a single day here. As long as there is hope, we shall stay in Kosovo. Let them take whatever they want, as long as hope remains.