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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Top Kosovo Serb politician Oliver Ivanovic shot dead
2018-01-16
[BBC] A prominent Kosovo Serb politician, Oliver Ivanovic, has been shot dead outside his party offices in the Serb-run north of Mitrovica.

Ivanovic, seen as a moderate Kosovo Serb leader, was shot four times in the chest and died later in hospital, his lawyer Nebojsa Vlajic said.

Serbian government negotiators walked out of EU-mediated talks with Kosovo Albanians in Brussels after the news. Kosovo remains ethnically divided since unilaterally splitting from Serbia. Mitrovica - in northern Kosovo - is divided, with the south run by Kosovo Albanians.

Shadow of conflict

Ivanovic, 64, headed a Kosovo Serb party called Freedom, Democracy, Justice. He had played a leading role in negotiations with Nato and the EU.

He was facing a retrial for alleged war crimes against ethnic Albanians committed in 1999.

In January 2016, EU judges in Kosovo sentenced him to nine years, but the verdict was overturned by an appeals court a year later.

Ivanovic had denied all charges.

"This is a criminal and terrorist act that must be and will be punished," Serbian delegate Marko Djuric said, announcing his move to walk out of the Brussels talks.

The Serbian government is holding an extraordinary security meeting in Belgrade.
Posted by:Besoeker

#1  "Europe should worry that there may be a Kremlin link to the Ivanović assassination. After all, turning Serbia away from the EU and NATO is Moscow’s top foreign policy aim in the Balkans. Not to mention that Kremlin spies plotted the violent overthrow of the government of neighboring Montenegro only a year ago."
Posted by: newc   2018-01-16 13:42  

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