Oliver Ivanovic was killed on January 16th, 2018, in front of his office in North Mitrovica. The fact that the only information that is not contested is that Oliver Ivanovic was shot from a firearm shows how thorough the investigation is and how much the public knows about it. It is not known who killed him, or the way in which he was killed, it is unknown who the instigator is, if there is one, and the authorities are not speaking about the motives of the murder. This conclusion is reinforced by almost daily statements by officials from Belgrade and Pristina who seem to be competing to see who will talk more, but say less, about the case.
After a year, Pristina and Belgrade are still conducting investigations and the public is not familiar with almost any information regarding the murder, very little is known, but there are many speculations.
It’s reliably known…
Sometime after eight o’clock on January 16th, 2018, the leader of the Civic Initiative „Freedom, Democracy, Justice“ Oliver Ivanovic was killed in front of the party’s headquarters.
He went to the party office from his apartment on foot. The killer fired at least six bullets in the back of Oliver Ivanovic. A neighbor, walking down that street, saw Ivanovic lying on the street. At that moment, only the secretary and one of the closest associates of Oliver Ivanovic, Silvana Arsovic, was present in the office, who heard the shouting of the woman from the street, left the office and saw Ivanovic lying down. No one, or it is unknown to date, witnessed the moment when Ivanovic was killed. To date, it is unknown whether the killer approached him from the back or if he was in a moving car. It was expected that video surveillance cameras would reveal, if not who the killer is, then at least the way Ivanovic was killed. Cameras on the parry premises, however, allegedly did not work.
Bozovic for Insajder: Oliver would notice if cameras had not been working for days
Civic initiative SDP’s deputy Ksenija Bozovic reiterated to Insajder that the prosecution told her that the surveillance cameras did not work from January 4th until a few minutes after the murder – when they started working again.
„When Oliver was taken to the hospital, his secretary Silvana and I locked the office and went to the hospital. After an hour, the police started insisting that we come to hand over the receiver containing the video footage. When we arrived, a team of investigators was already there and they brought a technician. There were two lawyers with us, Ljubomir Pantovic and Nebojsa Vlajic. I asked that we look together what was recorded but they did not allow it. They immediately disconnected the receiver and explained that I have no right to look at it,“ Ksenija Bozovic said.
She also stated that the claims that the cameras were not working are not logical because Oliver Ivanovic himself watched the video footage every day and would notice that the cameras are not working.
„He would come in the morning and immediately turn on his computer to watch the video footage. Considering the overall atmosphere and everything that happened to him, it is not logical that he would not notice that the cameras were not working,“ said Bozovic.
The receiver has not been returned to date, although she said that she has requested it several times.
Video footage exists, with no clear information what is seen
There are at least 16 other cameras in surrounding shops, business premises and public places in the vicinity of the murder scene of Oliver Ivanovic. Insajder’s journalists also verified this. Taking this into account, it is not clear how it is possible that, to date, the most basic information about how Ivanovic was killed is unknown, at least to the public.
Official Belgrade claims that it did not receive the recordings. It is interesting to note that photographs of the recordings were published on the day of the annual memorial service for Oliver Ivanovic on January 12th in a tabloid, which often publishes findings from the investigation.
Srpski Telegraf released photographs taken from the scene at the time Oliver Ivanovic lay dead next to the fence of the house where the party is located. The pictures show the neighbor who found Ivanovic and the secretary stepping out of the office onto the street. In the other picture, the police are seen next to Ivanovic’s body.
In an interview with Pink TV on January 14th, the president of Serbia said that video footage was not delivered to Serbia, neither were the shells they requested from Pristina. He confirmed that the Serbian service possesses photographs.
„It is something we have and what we are doing,“ Vucic said.
Kosovo Prosecutor Syle Hoxha confirmed for N1 that the photographs are authentic, but that he does not know how they found themselves in the newspapers.
„As for the cameras from his office, they did not work, they started working a minute or two after the murder. Photographs did not come from the Kosovo Prosecutor’s Office,“ said special prosecutor Hoxha, who is leading the investigation of the murder of Ivanovic.
Shells and „clones“
The shells, as well as the recordings from the camera, have been frequently spoken about practically from the first day of the murder of Oliver Ivanovic. Two policemen from Mitrovica, Dragisa Markovic and Zarko Jovanovic, were arrested on February 11th in connection with the murder investigation. The issue was that one policeman moved the shells from the scene, while the other, according to the prosecutor’s office, talked on the phone with an unknown person the entire time.
Foto: BIRN
„Ivanovic was killed with six bullets from a „zastava M70A“ pistol and five shells were collected from the scene. They did not inform the prosecutor’s office or their superiors that they took a shell from the scene,“ Mitrovica prosecutor Shyqri Syla told Insajder on February 13th, 2018.
The prosecutor stated that the footage shows a policeman taking a shell and putting it in his pocket.
The court did not order the policemen to be taken into custody. Judge Nikola Kabasic said that the police thought that Ivanovic had suffered a heart attack and that the shells in his vicinity were there as a result of celebratory gunfire.
„One of them bows down and gives Oliver Ivanovic’s wallet to the secretary. The other turns around and sees a few shells on the ground, takes one in his hands and lowers it, this is clearly seen on the footage, so he does not put it in the pocket and does not take it from the scene. They then leave because they do not know that this is the site of a crime scene,“ Kabasic said, adding that the security cameras from Ivanovic’s office confirm this.
According to police minister Nebojsa Stefanovic, Serbia received the first forensic, ballistic and autopsy reports a month later. Since then, Pristina and Belgrade have been accusing each other of obstruction and failure to disclose evidence. The justice minister said in November 2018 that Serbia delivered everything that the prosecution in Pristina had requested and that almost nothing was delivered from Pristina, not even the shells.
The Special Prosecutor in Pristina, who took over the investigation in March, Syle Hoxha, claimed the opposite.
„Belgrade asked for and received the shells from the scene, but the prosecution has not yet received the findings of their analysis. No answers were received regarding the mobile identification, messages, received and dialed phone numbers used by Ivanovic,“ the Kosovo Prosecutor stated in December.
When asked by Insajder about the shells, Minister Stefanovic said that plastic clones which were delivered are not enough for a conclusion to be reached.
„We did not get the original shells, but plastic clones. Are these credible clones, is that enough, reliable, who knows? We insisted that we get what was at the scene, in order to dispel the suspicion which weapon was used,“ said Stefanovic, adding that experts believe that clones are insufficient to determine which weapon was used.
The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic revealed Serbia’s suspicions, stating that the shells are needed to determine which gun was used.
„We could not carry out an investigation, we asked for the shells, whether he was killed from a Heckler Koh or a Croatian rifle, as we believed,“ Vucic said on January 14th on Pink TV.
Car burned after the murder: A clue or removing clues
On the day of the murder, it was reported that a burned car was found near the crime scene. It was immediately suspected that it was a car related to the murder of Oliver Ivanovic. Two days later, it was revealed that the owner of the car was a Serb from Austria who had passed away a long time ago and that the car was sold by his wife at a car market.
Serbian police director, Vladimir Rebic then said that the Serbian institutions have certain knowledge which indicates the possible killers of Oliver Ivanovic.
This vehicle, however, was not spoken about anymore and the media speculated that it was a planted clue.
Arrests in Mitrovica
The only breakthrough in the investigation, for the entire year, came at the end of November after the political situation between Belgrade and Pristina intensified. Belgrade prevented Kosovo’s admission to INTERPOL, and Pristina, in response, imposed a 100% tax on Serbian products. At that political moment in November 23rd, early in the morning, the Special Forces of the Kosovo Police arrested four people in North Mitrovica, while one avoided arrest. Police officer Dragisa Markovic was arrested again and his colleague Nedeljko Spasojevic was also taken into custody. Marko Rozic was arrested in connection to Ivanovic’s murder. Police also arrested Aleksandar Curcic.
The arrest was avoided by the Vice-President of Srpska Lista, Milan Radoicic. Just a day before this action, Radoicic was in Belgrade at a meeting between Srpska Lista and the President of Serbia, which was filmed by the media. After the arrest, Radoicic’s whereabouts were not known, however, three days later the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs said that it had questioned him without specifying where. The president of Serbia and the head of the Kosovo Office publicly claimed that Radoicic passed a polygraph test and had nothing to do with the murder of Ivanovic. Radoicic, together with representatives of Srpska Lista, met with President Vucic again on November 29th.
The president of Serbia told the Serbian public service broadcaster that Radoicic was informally questioned in Kosovo as early as February 21st, but that Pristina had kept it secret.
„They wanted to kill him now. First, another man was blackmailed, a member of a narco-clan arrested in Kosovo based on a Montenegrin warrant, who was offered to accuse Radoicic in order to make up a story and accuse Belgrade. Since he could not tell them that and do that for them, they did this,“ Vucic told RTS in late November.
At the end of December, Kosovo Prosecutor Syle Hoxha told Insajder that, due to the investigation, he cannot publish evidence of Radoicic’s involvement in the murder of the former SDP leader and that they are still determining his role in that crime.
While the Kosovo media published unofficial information about the prosecution’s suspicions about the role of the arrested Serbs in Ivanovic’s murder, there is no unofficial information about the role of Milan Radoicic.
Intrusion into an apartment, suspicions of war crimes, burning cars, political hunt…
Oliver Ivanovic linked everything that happened to him in the past six years with political action.
During the election campaign in 2013, an unknown man had even barged into his apartment and attacked his wife. That year, Ivanovic entered the second round of elections for the mayor of North Mitrovica, but he did not win. Krstimir Pantic from the Civic Initiative „Srpska“ received the highest number of votes. He was supported by official Belgrade, but he did not become the mayor.
An opposition councilor and associate of Oliver Ivanovic, Dimitrije Janicijevic was killed on the doorstep of his home on January 16th, 2014. A few days later, on January 24th, Oliver Ivanovic was arrested on suspicion of committing a war crime and could not participate in the repeated elections in Mitrovica.
Oliver Ivanovic was in custody from January 2014 to February 2017. The court in Pristina first sentenced him to nine years in prison and then overturned the war crimes verdict. Ivanovic was released in April – to defend himself in a repeated trial. He returned to political life.
Early on the morning on July 28th, 2017, his car was set on fire in North Mitrovica.
„I have no personal conflict with anyone. I do not have any illegal business, I have nothing that would bring me into conflict with people, the only thing that can happen is that I have those who do not share my political attitude, but that should not be the reason for this,“ Ivanovic told KoSSev on July 28th.
Just two days before that, the car of his closest associate Dragisa Milovic was set on fire in Zvecan. Milovic said that it is worrying that in addition to all the security surveillance cameras for which the Kosovo Office has allocated „enormous“ resources, they have no record when his car was set on fire. To date, the perpetrators have not been found.
Political pressures on Oliver Ivanovic intensified after his Civic Initiative filed official lists for local elections held in Kosovo on October 22nd, 2018. During the campaign, several candidates on the lists of Civic Initiative „Freedom, Democracy, Justice“ withdrew their candidacies and they did so by signing the same text. Ivanovic then told Insajder that it was clear that they signed what someone else wrote for them. Ivanovic said that the writer of the text „was someone who joined Srpska Lista while he was in custody“.
Ivanovic filed criminal charges for threats to candidates and invited everyone, from Belgrade to Pristina and EULEX and KFOR, to respond. Neither the Serbian nor the Kosovo Prosecutor’s Office announced what they did about these criminal charges.
During the campaign for local elections scheduled for October 2017, Oliver Ivanovic was deemed a traitor, an associate of Pristina who undermines the unity of the Serbian people. Srpska Lista, supported by the official Belgrade, also published videos that accused Ivanovic of supporting Pristina, that he was more interested in his burned car than the murder of a man in Mitrovica and that he was dishonest.
The videos were broadcast on TV Most from Zvecan and a television station with national coverage – Pink TV. The leaders of Srpska Lista, as well as the head of the Kosovo Office, Marko Djuric also claimed that Oliver is undermining the unity of the Serbian people.
He was also frightened for his safety
In interviews he gave on the eve and after local elections in Kosovo, Oliver Ivanovic spoke about the pressures and atmosphere, primarily in the north of Kosovo. At the time, he openly said that he was afraid for his safety.
„I am afraid that certain innocent people may suffer in this unstable situation and I must admit that I am also afraid for my own safety,“ Ivanovic told the Srna agency on Friday, January 12th, 2018, four days before the murder.
Ivanovic then estimated that his plans to form a political party would probably bother certain individuals and that he warned local and international officials about this.
„I hope that the competent authorities will understand our warnings,“ Ivanovic said at the time.
In his last interview for the weekly magazine „Vreme“ before the election, in September 2017, he said that the situation in Kosovo since his arrest in 2014 had worsened and that there is an incredible feeling of endangerment and fear among the people.
„People are not afraid of Albanians, they are afraid of Serbs, local strongmen and criminals riding in jeeps without license plates. Drugs are sold at every corner, every parent is afraid of it,“ Ivanovic said.
Promises and claims of Pristina and Belgrade without results
Immediately after the assassination of Oliver Ivanovic Belgrade and Pristina repeated that they would do everything to solve the case.
January 16th: President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic: „If they are not able, we ask them to invite our organs and accept our help. For we say, we will discover (the killers).“
January 16th: Prime Minister of Kosovo, Ramush Haradinaj: „Our institutions will do everything in their power to shed light on this murder and will never accept the logic of crime used for political purposes by anyone.“
January 17th: Following a telephone conversation with the President of Serbia, Kosovo President, Hashim Thaci wrote on Facebook: „The two Presidents have stressed the need to give enough time for competent authorities to complete their job in a professional and independent way. The presidents pointed out that finding the killers was the most important matter.“
February 15th: President of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci: „The investigation into the murder of Oliver Ivanovic continues. For now, there are no indications that would suggest an ethnically motivated case, but the first information indicates criminal, mafia motives. We will cooperate with the Serbian authorities in order to get adequate information. The truth will come out, even if it will hurt someone.“
March 17th: President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic: „In 15 days our services will address you regarding Ivanovic. I did not want to be told today that I’m abusing the two-month tragedy. The services will speak on this matter in about two weeks.“
June 14th: President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic: „In the next days, I will address the people and say and connect with other cases. Related to Oliver Ivanovic and some other things. People may be surprised by the information they learn.“
July 19th: President of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci: „Kosovo institutions will come out with concrete results that will give a headache to many in Kosovo and in Belgrade.“
July 22nd: President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic: „Maybe we are on a small clue toward something serious, for the first time we have some operational findings, although we are not allowed to conduct an investigation in any way. So far we have received over 50 clues that have no logic and sense, this is the first time that there is some logic and sense, and if that’s true, we’ll check it out.“
December 19th: The head of the Kosovo office, Marko Djuric: „All the clues, and I want to be unequivocally clear, all the clues in connection with the murder of Oliver Ivanovic, currently in possession of our state organs, lead to the southern, Albanian side.“
December 27th: Kosovo President, Hashim Thaci: „Based on the information I have, although the authorities are divided, the investigation is at a very important stage. The main suspects are in Belgrade and we have to work with international actors to make Belgrade cooperative, so as it does not become a refuge for suspects in the murder of Oliver Ivanovic.“
January 5th: President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic: „I will wait for our services and our bureau to submit a report on what they discovered the next week, and then I will join them. Albanians try to accuse the Serbian state of the murder of Oliver Ivanovic. There are many accidental and deliberate mistakes, but our services have examined everything. Does anyone really think that Serbia is standing behind the murder of Oliver Ivanovic? That person is not normal or is sick with hatred.“
None of the promises and announcements of officials in Pristina and Belgrade have been fulfilled.
Kosovo Prosecutor wants to question Oliver Ivanovic’s wife, she invited him to do it, but in Belgrade
On the eve of the anniversary of the murder of Oliver Ivanovic, prosecutor Syle Hoxha told N1 that Oliver Ivanovic’s wife, Milena Popovic, did not give a statement to the Kosovo Prosecutor’s Office, despite his request to do so.
„I asked for an interview with her through international institutions and Serbian authorities. She made some statements before the Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade, but she did not say anything specific that I could use in the investigation,“ the prosecutor said.
Milena Popovic invited the Kosovo special prosecutor on January 10, 2019 to come to Belgrade to question her. She gave a statement to the Serbian Prosecutor’s Office.
„I told them all that I knew about these questions, so I do not know what the prosecutor is thinking. I do not really know if he is trying to exert pressure on me or if he is expecting a name from me. I do not really know. If he thinks I should be questioned again, I’m inviting him to negotiate with our investigative bodies so that they can all question me together. I can do it publicly and however he wants, I do not have any secrets,“ Popovic told TV Prva.
In the last few days, Milena Popovic has been claiming that her husband, Oliver Ivanovic, did not fear for his safety, and that President Aleksandar Vucic helped them. After the assassination, Milena Popovic started working in the Serbian government and, as she said, left Kosovo forever and moved to Belgrade. She was present at a rally in North Mitrovica during the visit of the Serbian President.
She said that she would not attend the announced protest on the day of the murder of Oliver Ivanovic and that she thinks it is a politicization of the tragedy, adding that she would not go to the gathering regardless of who is organizing it.
Foto: Kosovo Prime Minister Cabinet
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
