Kosovo, Serbia Play Blame Game over Ivanovic Assassination

Two years after Serb politician Oliver Ivanovic was gunned down outside his party's office in the ethnically-divided Kosovo town of Mitrovica on January 16, 2018, six people are to be tried for their alleged involvement in his killing.

But many unknowns remain in the case - including the name of the shooter - and the fractious relations between Belgrade and Pristina have further complicated the process of seeking the truth about who was behind the murder and what motivated them to kill Ivanovic.

The fact that Serbia doesn't recognise its former province Kosovo as independent has complicated the investigation even further.

Meanwhile officials from both countries have also been using the murder in attempts to score points in their day-to-day political quarrels, some of them making wild and unsubstantiated claims about who was behind the shooting of the 64-year-old politician.

Key suspects remain at large

Police guard the crime scene where Oliver Ivanovic was shot in Mitrovica on January 16, 2018. Photo: EPA-EFE/STRINGER.

In December 2019, after almost two years of investigation, Kosovo's Special Prosecution charged six people with participating in or organising a criminal group, misuse of office, assisting in a murder, possession of illegal weapons, disclosure of official secrets and misuse of evidence in relation to the Ivanovic case.

The suspects' trial at Pristina Basic Court's Special Department was due to open the same month, but the hearing was postponed until February.

The indictment also named two prominent Kosovo Serbs, Milan Radoicic and Zvonko Veselinovic, as leaders of the criminal group responsible for the killing.

Neither man has been detained so far. In November 2018, officers...

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