BELGRADE - Deputy leader of the Citizens’ Initiative SDP Ksenija Bozovic said Thursday that she expected the trial against the party leader Oliver Ivanovic to begin before the end of 2015, pointing out that his defense was fully prepared for the trial.

Bozovic told Tanjug that the defense had presented all evidence Oliver Ivanovic had and the names of his witnesses to the court within the statutory deadline, adding that she expected the trial to begin before year’s end.

The entire team of lawyers who will defend Ivanovic and Ivanovic himself, who has been in detention for a long time now, are ready, she said.

Oliver Ivanovic is charged with committing a criminal offense of war crime against the civilian population in Kosovo in 1999 and faces between five years to a lifetime in prison.

EULEX arrested Ivanovic in Kosovska Mitrovica, northern Kosovo, in late January. The defense claims that this is a politically motivated trial launched at a time when he was a candidate for mayor in the North Mitrovica municipality.