The Citizens’ Initiative Serbia, Democracy, Justice deputy leader Ksenija Bozovic expressed hope on Thursday that a decision on further detention of Initiative leader Oliver Ivanovic will be taken on Friday and that he will be released pending trial.
Pursuant to an earlier decision, Ivanovic’s detention is set to expire on April 27, but the Initiative expects the decision to be taken on Friday since the date falls at the weekend, Bozovic said.
She told Kosovska Mitrovica-based Kontakt Plus Radio that she hopes that the authorities will realise the gravity of the situation and that there are no reasons to keep Ivanovic in detention any longer.
Representatives of the Initiative handed on Wednesday to Eulex officials and the EU special representative in Kosovo Samuel Zbogar a 10,116-strong petition for Ivanovic’s release pending trial.
Ivanovic was arrested in late January on suspicion of involvement in crimes committed in Kosovo-Metohija in 1999 and 2000, including an aggravated murder.
After spending more than a month in detention in Pristina and going on a hunger strike, Ivanovic was transferred to detention in northern Kosovska Mitrovica on March 12.
The events Ivanovic has been charged in connection with have already been addressed by the UNMIK judiciary in Kosovo in the trials of Igor Simic and Steva Zigic in 2001 and 2003, respectively.
The two men were acquitted of charges and none of the several witnesses in the trials accused Ivanovic.
