Today marks the two-year anniversary of the assassination of Oliver Ivanovic. The assassination of one of the most prominent Kosovo Serb political representatives in January 2018 greatly disturbed the Kosovo Serb community, while today a memorial in his honor serves as a cause for division.
Two commemorations on the occasion of the murder of Oliver Ivanovic will be held today in front of the GI SDP party premises in North Mitrovica. The first commemoration, held by the GI SDP, will take place at 10 a.m. The invitation for this commemoration arrived from the civic initiative led by Ksenija Bozovic, Ivanovic’s longtime colleague and friend. Late last year, Bozovic made the decision to join the Srpska Lista candidate list for the parliamentary elections – the party which led the discrediting media campaign against Ivanovic for months prior to the murder.
Another group of Ivanovic’s family and friends, who stood up against Bozovic’s decision to be a part of Srpska list, will gather at the same place just an hour later.
Two memorials in Ivanovic’s honor will also be held in Belgrade.
At the New Cemetery in Belgrade, in the Alley of Meritorious Citizens, where Ivanovic was laid to rest on January 18th, a memorial service will take place at 11 a.m., Oliver Ivanovic’s brother, Miroslav Ivanovic confirmed for KoSSev.
On the other hand, Ivanovic’s longtime partner, Milena Popovic announced that a memorial she organized would take place in the crypt of the Temple of St. Sava in Belgrade, at 8:15 a.m. – the exact time when Ivanovic was shot.
The ‘1 out of 5 million’ association also announced that it would organize a new protest in Belgrade on Saturday, January 18th, dedicated to „the assassinated opposition leader in Kosovo and Metohija – Oliver Ivanovic.“ The first ‘1 out of million’ protest was held last January, on the anniversary of the murder of the GI SDP leader.
Oliver Ivanovic was gunned down on January 16th, 2018 in North Mitrovica, in front of his party’s premises, with six shots to the back. The assassination took place three months after the local elections in which he faced media and political demonization and was labeled as a traitor and destroyer of Serbian unity. He was buried in the Alley of Meritorious Citizens in Belgrade. A large number of citizens attended his funeral. No commemoration service was held at the North Mitrovica assembly, where he was an assembly member for a short time before his assassination.
Ivanovic’s murder is being investigated by both the Serbian Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime, as well as by the Kosovo Special Prosecutor’s Office. So far, only the Kosovo investigative authorities have issued indictments in this murder case. The first indictments were filed in early December 2019, while the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime is still conducting a preliminary investigation.
The indictment by the Kosovo Special Prosecutor’s Office includes six persons, while arrest warrants were issued against three more persons who are also suspected of involvement in the murder of Ivanovic.
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