A/HRC/13/40/Add.3 56. The Special Rapporteur was informed by UNMIK that, as at January 2007, a total of 326 individuals26 had been investigated in municipal and district public prosecutors’ offices concerning criminal offences committed during the March 2004 riots in Kosovo. A further 157 charges were handled in Minor Offences Courts resulting in 116 sentences. In addition, as of April 2008, a total of 35 defendants27 were prosecuted by international prosecutors and convicted of 70 crimes in relation to the events of March 2004, including for aggravated murder, inciting ethnic hatred and causing general danger. 57. The Special Rapporteur’s international and local interlocutors were unanimous that they were caught by surprise in 2004 and had not seen any warning signs before the attacks on Serbian Orthodox believers and their religious sites. It is therefore important for all actors involved to remain vigilant in detecting any emerging religious tensions and to be proactive in preventing the recurrence of such violence. In addition, any acts of violence or incitement to racial or religious hatred should be investigated and the perpetrators must be prosecuted and sanctioned. In this regard, the Special Rapporteur was informed that on 30 March 2007, a projectile was fired from a rocket-launcher towards the Visoki Dečani monastery which caused serious damage to the tiled roof covering the wall that surrounds the monastery. Subsequently, a Kosovo Albanian was convicted on 19 September 2008 by the UNMIK district court in Pejë/Peć to a prison sentence of three and a half years. 58. The Special Rapporteur remains concerned about the situation of internally displaced persons who are members of religious minorities. A recent UNHCR report indicates that most of the 210,000 internally displaced persons from Kosovo are from minority communities (Serbs, Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians) and in addition almost 20,000 people are still displaced within Kosovo itself, with some 2,200 living in collective centres.28 In this context, the Special Rapporteur would also like to refer to the follow-up mission from 28 June to 4 July 2009 by the Representative of the Secretary-General on the human rights of internally displaced persons. In his report (A/HRC/13/21/Add.1), the Representative of the Secretary-General notes that the number of returns to, and within, Kosovo has been disappointingly low, even though a considerable section of the internally displaced persons population still seems willing to exercise their right to return. While security and freedom of movement for minority communities in Kosovo has improved, today’s chief obstacles to sustainable returns are the entrenched patterns of discrimination, lack of access to employment and livelihoods and too few schools for minorities. 2. Religious symbols 59. The issue of wearing religious symbols in educational institutions has been a matter of controversy. The Kosovo Ministry of Education has prohibited the wearing of headscarves, while the legal basis seems to be unclear. In 2004, the Ombudsperson issued an opinion stating that the prohibition should apply only to teachers and school officials, but not to students. In 2007-2008, the Ombudsperson Institution received a large 26 27 28 A total of 200 individuals have been indicted (of which 134 were convicted, 8 acquitted, 28 cases dismissed and 30 pending), 48 charges were dismissed, 4 are suspended or not being pursued, 35 were transferred to other courts (for instance with regard to minor offences) and 29 cases remain open. Of these 35 defendants, 14 received prison sentences and 21 received suspended sentences. 16 defendants have filed appeals or announced the intention to do so. One defendant prosecuted by an international prosecutor in relation to the riots was acquitted, and the prosecutor in the case has filed an appeal, which is pending with the appellate court. The verdicts against the remaining 19 defendants are final. Approximately ten cases, which needed further action, are currently handled by EULEX International Prosecutors. See UNHCR Global Appeal 2010-2011, page 28 (www.unhcr.org/4b040c559.html). 17