To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received on the number of (a) Orthodox churches in Kosovo which have been destroyed or damaged since the entry of the NATO Kosovo Force into that country, (b) perpetrators which have been arrested and (c) convictions of persons held responsible. (279920)

Records produced by the Serbian Orthodox Church, compiled using information from UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) reports from the time, show that 76 Orthodox churches were destroyed or damaged during the conflict in 1999, and 30 during riots in March 2004. The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and UNMIK estimate that, since 1999, a total of 155 Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries, 250 cemeteries, and approximately 6,750 gravestones have been destroyed or damaged.

Exact figures for the number of perpetrators arrested for acts committed in 1999 are not available, as all damage was recorded as common crime. According to the UNMIK Department of Justice and the Kosovo Judicial Council, during the period December 2005 to March 2006 local prosecutors brought charges against 206 defendants for the destruction of churches in 2004. Of these, 150 were convicted in either municipal or district courts. Separately, international judges and prosecutors handled seven cases relating to destruction of churches in 2004, involving 18 defendants. Of these, 17 were convicted and one acquitted, with sentences ranging from 21 months to 16 years.