Mušutište

Mušutište (Serbian Cyrillic: Мушутиште, Albanian: Mushtishtë) is a village in the Suva Reka municipality in Kosovo. It is located to the west of the Nerodimka mountain. It has 10 medieval Serbian Orthodox churches, including the notable Church of Virgin Hodegetria, which was destroyed in 1999.

The village used to have a mixed Albanian-Serbian population; according to the 1991 census, it had 5016 inhabitants.

The Serbian inhabitants fled the village during the Kosovo war. All their houses were subsequently set on fire and most of their properties usurped. Their return to the village has been actively opposed by an Albanian group.

History

It was first mentioned in a Serbian charter dating to 1315. In a charter of Emperor Stephen Uroš IV Dušan, dating to 1348, Mušutište, along with the churches of Virgin Hodegetria and St. Symeon (Sv. Simeona), were granted (metochion) to the Saint Archangels Monastery in Prizren. The churches were destroyed in the 1999 conflict.

The mass abduction in Mušutište was a war crime against the Serb civilian population in Mušutište, who used to be a majority there . The abduction occurred on 12 June 1999, when Albanian soldiers attacked Mušutište and kidnapped 17 Serb civilians.

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