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Political pressure to (reach) joint investigation team (Danas)

Could Serbian Government by conditioning continuation of the Brussels dialogue and Srpska Lista by “freezing” existence of the Kosovo Government, that depends on its votes, help official Belgrade to become a part of the investigation of Oliver Ivanovic’s murder, Danas daily wrote on Friday. Diplomatic sources told Danas daily that due to Pristina’s refusal to involve official Belgrade in the investigation, Belgrade can only count on exchange of information. Srpska Lista unofficially told Danas, it has agreed with Belgrade to monitor if the exchange of information would yield results. “We do not want to make a wrong step with a political act, as this is for the first time to have Serbian and Albanian prosecutors jointly taking part in an investigation, police officers from the north of Kosovo and Pristina,” Srpska Lista unofficially told daily, according to Danas. “Pressure on Pristina and Brussels would have been possible, if Belgrade and Srpska Lista would lead an independent policy. Having in mind Belgrade’s loyalty toward Brussels, it is hard to expect that the government, which did not use similar methods to put on the agenda topics such as return of displaced Serbs, Serbia’s public properties in Kosovo, the security of the Serbian Orthodox Church, would do it now because of the investigation of Oliver Ivanovic’s murder,” Slobodan Samardzic, former Serbian Government Minister for Kosovo and Metohija told Danas daily. Political analyst, Dusan Janjic thinks that Belgrade and Srpska Lista cold exercise pressure to establish “a joint coordinating investigation team, in which Pristina, KFOR and EULEX would cooperate with responsible institutions in Serbia”. “Whoever refuses this, is responsible for the creation of a political environment for Ivanovic’s murder. Such joint team is necessary not because of this murder only, but because of 14.000 cases waiting to be resolved (…),” Janjic said. According to him, Hashim Thaci makes mistake to use this situation for proving Kosovo statehood, formal and legal recognition of independence as this “is the opportunity to show that Kosovo functions in the north of Kosovo,” Janjic told Danas daily.