EULEX wants me behind bars no matter what, regardless of the fact that the Serbian government has repeatedly provided strong guarantees so I could be released pending trial, says Oliver Ivanovic, leader of the Citizens' Initiative ‘Freedom, Democracy, Justice’ (GI SDP), who has been in remand custody in Kosovo for 10 months now for allegedly committing war crimes during the NATO aggression and bombing of Serbia in 1999.

“The government is helping me prepare for the trial, but for some reason EULEX refuses to release me from custody despite the government’s guarantees. This gives rise to a reasonable suspicion that they want me to remain in custody at all costs,” Ivanovic said in an interview for Belgrade-based daily tabloid Kurir.

“The ideologists and organizers of my arrest probably did not expect the (Serbian) government and the entire Serbian public to organize, and it is costing them dearly already,” he added.

Asked how he handled his days in prison, Ivanovic said that he was being rational, looking at the situation as a misfortune he could not do anything about except leaving Mitrovica in 1999 and starting a new life somewhere else.

Commenting on EULEX prosecutor Maria Bamieh’s allegations about corruption among judges and her fellow prosecutors at EULEX, Ivanovic said that they had “aired their dirty laundry” before, but only in private conversations.

“This is something quite different, as it is an officially launched procedure and it is clear that it will require the EU to make a real response,” said Ivanovic.

The GI SDP leader has been in remand custody since January 27, and the Kosovo Special Prosecution Office issued an indictment against him and four other Serbs on August 11.

Ivanovic is charged with ordering the murder of four ethnic Albanians that occurred in Kosovska Mitrovica on March 14, 1999 during the armed conflict in Kosovo and NATO's bombing of Serbia.