Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic slammed the murder of Oliver Ivanovic, leader of the Civic Initiative SDP (Freedom, Democracy, Justice), in northern Kosovo on Tuesday as a terrorist attack.
“The murder of Oliver Ivanovic is a terrorist attack. We will treat this as a terrorist attack,” Vucic said in an address to the nation after a meeting of the country’s Security Council.
Ivanovic’s murder is an attack on the Serb people, he stressed. “The attack on Oliver Ivanovic is first of all, the attack on the Serb people in the north of Kosovo and Metohija and second, the attack on “the entire Serbia,” Vucic said.
The Serbian leader said the authorities will carry out their own investigation into Ivanovic’s murder, voicing confidence that the killers will be found. Vucic also said letters will be sent to the EU and UN missions in Kosovo (EULEX and UNMIK) with demands to allow Serbia’s authorities to join investigation on the territory of Kosovo and Metohija.
The assassination of one of Kosovo Serb leaders occurred on Tuesday when the politician was entering his party’s headquarters in Kosovska Mitrovica.
Prosecutor in Kosovska Mitrovica Shyqyri Syla said Ivanovic was killed in a drive-by shooting. A party member said no one had heard any sound of shooting and the wounded politician was found by a neighbor who was returning from a shop. Police later found a burnt car without an identification number, which the killers allegedly used.
The politician was taken to a hospital with five gunshot wounds to his chest. The doctors tried to save his life, but to no avail.
In the wake of the killing, Marko Duric, who heads the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, said the Serb delegation was suspending its technical dialogue with Pristina in Brussels and returning to Belgrade.
Oliver Ivanovic, one of leaders of Kosovo Serbs, earlier served as the State Secretary of the Ministry for Kosovo and Metohija in the Serb government. In January 2016, he was sentenced to 9 years in jail for alleged war crimes against Albanians in 1999. In February 2017, the sentence announced by the first-instance court was overturned and a new trial began. Ivanovic was under house arrest and in April 2017 he was allowed to defend himself in court at liberty.