Ivanović convicted of war crime

(B2) The court of Mitrovica, composed of a panel of international judges, said on Thursday (January 21), Oliver Ivanovic, guilty of committing the offense of war crime against the civilian population ". The judges considered that the charges against the accused are proven and sentenced him to 9 years in prison, the European mission on the spot EULEX Kosovo tells us. Arrested in January 2014, he was kept in jail.

Sensitive case

A sensitive issue because Ivanovic was one of the "guardians of the bridge" of Mitrovica who blocked the city in two during the civil war of 1999 but also later became the leader of a Serbian moderate party (read: A “moderate” Serbian Kosovar arrested by EULEX forces. (Very) sensitive file).

A civilian execution operation in 1999

Member of a Serbian paramilitary commando, Ivanovic was found guilty of having taken part on April 14, 1999, in an operation against Albanians. Several Albanian families were then forcibly removed from their homes by Serb forces and taken to a checkpoint manned by paramilitaries and police. « The men were then escorted through the checkpoint. Four men were shot until the operation was halted with the arrival of a uniformed man who gave the order to stop says the judgment.

« Dressed in a blue uniform and armed » Oliver Ivanović was indeed part of the group of paramilitaries and police present at this checkpoint. It was " aware of the deportation operation and killing Albanians. He willingly stuck to the plan, knowing it would result in the killings.".

Regarding the second charge, the murder of ten Kosovar Albanians in North Mitrovica on 3 February 2000, against the person concerned and four other co-defendants (Dragoljub Delibašić, Nebojša Vujacic, Ilija Vujacic and Aleksandar Lazović), the Tribunal found them not guilty and acquitted them of all charges.

All parties — Ivanovic as well as the prosecution — can appeal this judgment.

(NGV)

Read also: The transfer of Oliver Ivanovic, accused of war crimes, to Mitrovica