The government will not allow the arrest to be used for “dark plans”, such as the introduction of the interim administration in northern Kosovska Mitrovica, said Aleksandar Vulin.

Even to believe the impartiality of EULEX prosecutors who ordered one month custody to the leader of the CI “Freedom, democracy, justice,” Oliver Ivanovic for war crimes, the consequences in the north Kosovo and Metohija certainly will be political.

Not only because such allegations call into question Ivanovic’c future political career, even if he is allowed to defend himself while on bail, but also because in the north of Kosmet there are many serious problems regarding holding of repeated elections for mayor of Kosovska Mitrovica on 23 February.

Yesterday the Minister of Justice Nikola Selaković, announcing that he will require all of the data in relation to the Ivanovic’s detention, told B92 that this arrest will affect the future course of political events.

-In Kosovo and Metohija nothing is accidental, especially when you have an unstable area, where and insignificant, unnoticed moves could be interesting and can affect something – said Selaković.

Why, then, just two days before the deadline for submission of candidacies, a man was arrested who took second place in the recent elections? As a reminder, the winner of the Serbian List Krstimir Pantic due to disagreements with Aleksandar Vulin resigned and refused to take the oath because on the solemn declaration was pasted label with the coat of arms of Kosovo, which sparked a new call of elections. After these events, the resistance of the Serbs in the north of KiM to the new elections is tremendous.

Revealing a possible motive for the arrest, minister Vulin said yesterday that the government, which requires disclosure of the indictment and Ivanovic release on bail, will not allow the arrest to be used for “dark plans”, such as the introduction of the interim administration in northern Kosovska Mitrovica.

Vulin, answering the question of whether Ivanovic’s arrest will influence the elections in northern Kosovska Mitrovica, explained that as part of the “dark plans” would be presented that the Serbs are not able to conduct elections, and therefore the interim administration must be imposed. Expert in the political situation in KiM, Dusan Janjic sees Ivanovic’s arrest in the context of the definitive skirmish with the post-Milosevic era and the opening of state archives which will reveal many dark things: the murder of Ćuruvija, Stambolić, murder of Serbian young man in a cafe “Panda”, to the discovery of a mass grave of prisoners from Kosovo in Raska.

Announcing the wave of arrests that will lead to changes in the political elite in KiM,  Janjic says that the people will be removed who in any way were associated with times of war and that in the disclosure of the dark actions of the state will lead international representatives in front of domestic ones.

“In the coming period many will feel threatened, and above all, assumption will be hurt of ordinary people built so far on war and political elite.” said Janjic.

How Oliver Ivanovic from “Bridge Watcher”, which for 15 years (as much as he is in politics) separates North and South Mitrovica, deputy of the “Return” list in the Kosovo Parliament and later Secretary of State in the Serbian government, reached to the Pristina prison and the suspect for two criminal offenses ? According to his lawyer, Nebojsa Vlajić, he is suspected for war crimes against civilians in April 1999, and incitement of others to commit criminal acts of murder or grievous bodily harm, which allegedly occurred 3 February 2000 when 10 Albanians were killed.

Vlajić, who will appeal against the detention order, said to Politika that Ivanovic is now prevented from running and singing the application for local elections for mayor.

Apparently, the belief that the most strongly defended Ivanovic – to establish a line of demarcation of the northern and southern part of Kosovska Mitrovica – cost him his arrest and detention.

Very little is written in the local press about that time. AFP at the time reported that “Bridge Watchers” are under Ivanovic’s command and that he does not separate from Motorola. About how he became the uncrowned king of the resistance in June 1999, Ivanović has spoken later: “Twenty boys from the bridge came to see me with the idea to get me to help them, because, if nothing else, I know with foreigners.” Thus was born the Serb National Council of Northern Kosovo, where Ivanovic was Chairman of the Executive Board. He was dismissed in July 2001 because he supported the elections, and few months later he became a member of the State Coordination Body for KiM.

At the same time he was a member of the coalition “Return” and member of the Presidency of the Kosovo Assembly. In the Kosovo parliamentary elections in 2004 he was the bearer of the Serbian List and a member of the Social Democratic Party of Nebojsa Covic.

In turbulent Ivanovic’s biography it is noted that the public prosecutor’s office of the municipality of Kraljevo in August 2000 filed against him charges of spreading false information and threats to security. Ivanovic then accused the Belgrade authorities of handing over ‘Trepča’ and allowing the entry of international representatives in the management of the steel plant. Ivanovic then said: “I have a nasty feeling that someone from the state already is talking with UNMIK on the status of ‘Trepča’, and the people and workers know nothing about it.”

Lajci: We have nothing with the arrest

Kosovo’s judiciary claims that they have nothing to do with the arrest and detention of Oliver Ivanovic, and Driton Lajci, a spokesman for the Minister of Justice in the self-proclaimed Kosovo government, to Politika states: “For all serious crimes, including war crimes against the civilian population, decides EULEX and it takes proceedings against suspects. They have exclusive jurisdiction in respect of such acts, regardless of their nationality, and Kosovo institutions have no influence in such cases. ”

Pristina analysts estimate that “guilt should be proven and that everyone is innocent until proven guilty.” Political analyst Fatmir Sheholi to Politika says that “the truth about the events during the conflict in 1999 and later only knows Oliver Ivanovic, who is an influential politician.”

“It is extremely important, especially for him and for justice, the truth to come out. Ivanovic is one of the main leaders of the Serbs in Kosovo, and his arrest at the time when the mayoral election is expected will disrupt balance among candidates in Mitrovica,” said Sheholi.

Witnesses from Pristina

Pristina media yesterday gave considerable attention to the detention of Ivanovic, represented as a man who “for decade is trying to present himself as a modern Serbian leader.”

Daily Koha Ditore, which in 2012th wrote about the allegations against Ivanovic, writes that he is suspected of participating in the crime of 14 April in 1999 as well as being a part of “a campaign of expulsion of Albanians from the north a year later, which resulted in 10 killed.”

The Diary has learned that Ivanovic is suspected of having participated in the crime of 14 April in 1999 in the village Bair near Kosovska Mitrovica, where, according to Koha, were killed 31 Albanians, and he is suspected of and for the events a year later in northern Kosovska Mitrovica “campaign of expulsion of Albanians from the north.”

The newspaper Zeri, according to one witness who gave a statement to the Committee for Human Rights in Mitrovica Shpend Hasani, said that on 3rd and 4th February 2000 Ivanovic was just the one ” who has been at the forefront of criminals who killed Albanians.”