Since last summer, in the villages of the Orahovac municipality, with the exception of the village of Velika Hoca in which there are still about 1,000 inhabitants, there is no Serb Orthodox population.
"Ethnic cleansing in mid-July of last year was conducted by ethnic Albanian terrorists in the villages of Retimlje, Opterusa, and Zociste. Several Serbs died trying to defend those villages, and many were taken away in an unknown direction, to the wasteland of the mountains above Suva Reka and Malisevo, and Drenica... Those days, ethnic Albanians abducted 51 Serbs from Orahovac. We can only speculate about their fate," says Sasa Trbusic, one of Serbs from Orahovac. On October 27 1999 he managed to get out of this town with his family with the assistance of the International Red Cross.
According to his testimony, about 1440 Serbs remain in Orahovac. They live in a true ghetto.
"Ethnic Albanians control municipal services and cut electricity and water to the ghetto for hours. Phone links with Serbia have been cut since the beginning of the bombardment, and the Albanians have cut the phone links to the nearby village of Velika Hoca. We are getting food in various ways. Those with a yard around the house have planted potatoes, cabbage, and lettuce. The rest we get from the Red Cross. We cannot go to stores because any attempt to leave the ghetto is suicidal," testifies our interlocutor.
Serbs from Orahovac are trying to get out of their occupied town in any way possible, but only the most fortunate among them have managed to do that. Ethnic Albanians have given to KFOR soldiers certain lists of alleged war criminals. Every Serb from Orahovac, whose name is on that list can only make it to the prison in Prizren.
"When on October 27, 163 of us finally entered 4 passenger buses and 29 cars we thought that freedom was near. We ignored the shouts of ethnic Albanians while we were driving through the town. However, we did not even make it to the exit from the town. Instead we were driven to the factory 'Termovent'. There, KFOR soldiers conducted a detailed search. They even checked serial numbers on cars and their engines. Nevertheless, all that ended relatively soon and we started towards Pec. We passed through Zrze without trouble. However, the convoy was stoned in Djakovica and Decane. The windshield on Trajko Simic's car was broken and we had to stop on the road between Decani and Pec so that the Dutch KFOR soldiers could help Trajko put a plastic bag over his broken windshield. While we were waiting, the passing ethnic Albanians were provoking us. At one moment a KFOR soldier pushed away one of the four members of the Kosovo Protection Corps who were blocking our way. Everything got much more complicated once we reached Pec. At the crossroads near the former Police Station, the engine in the car of Snezana Dzinovic and Zlata Simic overheated. A KFOR armored troop carrier stopped and the convoy was divided in two. Buses and four cars made it safely to Savine Vode [on the border between Montenegro and Kosovo]. Our adventure was just about to start," continues Trbusic.
The convoy, led by a KFOR vehicle, made a wrong turn. However, they soon returned on the right route, but a human wall of Albanians had already been formed at the crossroads towards Rozaje [town in Montenegro]. The Albanians started throwing stones and bricks at the convoy. Many passengers were injured. Our interlocutor was among them.
"We were saved from the maddened crowd by the Italian Carabinieri. They took us into the former Police Station, where we remained until 9pm. Then, under the cover of darkness with battery lapms, because a power cut had begun in the meantime, they took us to their armored cars through side entrances and drove us to Savine Vode on the border with Montenegro, where our people were waiting," concludes his testimony Sasa Trbusic. He crossed over to Serbia with his father, mother, wife and a nine-months-old daughter.
The Trbusic family is now safe. They, as well as other Serbs who managed to get to Montenegro received from the chief of the office of the High Commissariat for Refugees, Robert Bryn on October 28 a confirmation that their luggage and personal documents had been taken by force from them. The document does not mention their cars which were looted and then set on fire. They lost everything except for their lives.