During a debate “What has changed after January 16, 2018” organized in Mitrovica Social Club, NGO Aktiv Executive Director Miodrag Milicevic said that “88 percent of people don’t trust a single politician in northern Kosovo”, Radio KIM reports.
The panelists in the debate also included Deputy Leader of Civic Initiative, Freedom, Democracy, Justice (GI SDP) Ksenija Bozovic and President of Association of Journalists of Serbia in Kosovo, Budimir Nicic.
Ksenija Bozovic emphasized that a year after a deafening silence is prevailing, adding it is important to find out the truth, both because of Oliver and the future of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija. She said that fear and pressure can still be felt.
Milicevic pointed out very alarming situation, that they have registered a trend of people who are leaving and collective apathy, saying he cannot dare to predict if the situation would be significantly improved in the years ahead.
This is a political murder, and every political murder has its own goal and message. It is a message for politicians, maybe followers of Oliver Ivanovic, maybe for the citizens-that something like that can happen to them as well,” Budimir Nicic said.
Milicevic also spoke about “Trend Analysis”, a survey conducted by his organization for the past three years, noting that compared to previous two years, “this year the number of those who don’t feel free to express their political views has doubled and highlighted the fact that “88% of the people do not trust any single politician in the north of Kosovo”.
Nicic said that in his view, nothing was done in the investigation of Oliver Ivanovic’s murder case and despite of mutual accusations of Belgrade and Pristina, nobody gave concrete evidence. He added everything resembles a political trade and opined that for as long as the current authorities in Pristina and Belgrade are in power, the perpetrators of the murder will not be discovered. He noted that an independent international expert commission should be established to deal with Ivanovic’s murder case.
Milicevic stated there is no institutional will and he called this “a crisis of confidence in the institutions of the system,” to deal with such cases and undertake a comprehensive, fundamental reform of both the judicial and the police systems, which, evidently, is not functioning.
“If it was functioning, we would not have had a tabloid investigation between Belgrade and Pristina today, but a thorough investigation where we would have a prosecutor who would inform the general public about what is happening and what the consequences are,” he explained.
Bozovic noted the investigation was heading in the wrong direction, that it was led in an unprofessional manner from the beginning and added that “the murder of Oliver Ivanovic killed the hope that this could be a normal, democratic society”.
Nicic concluded by pointing out that Oliver believed in the system because he was a responsible man, thinking that everyone should behave responsibly in their positions. “To kill a man who was an alternative to primitivism, arrogance, and I can say violence, is a tragedy for one society” Nicic said.
The debate was supported by Kosovo Open Society Foundation.
