Oliver Ivanović’s lawyer, Ljubomir Pantović, said that the team of lawyers are working intensively on writing the appeal to the Appellate Court in relation to the verdict that sentenced him to nine years of imprisonment, and added that he expects a releasing decision.

“The deadline expires on 19 April, however we won’t wait until the last day to submit the appeal to the authorized court,” said Pantović to TV Most, and added that he is working on the appeal along with lawyer Nebojša Vlajić and few more lawyers from Belgrade and abroad, whose assistance is welcome.

He explained that Ivanović has been released on one count of the indictment and found guilty by another one, whereas four other indicted persons in the same case have been released. Ivanović will remain in custody until the court’s final decision, said Pantović, and explained that there is no deadline for bringing the final decision, however the law obliges the court to act expeditiously since the person who is found guilty is in detention.

Pantović went on to say that he would like to see internationals in the court’s panel since local Albanian judges are not objective. “Even Albanian media, following Ivanović’s arrest, have found him guilty with the way of reporting and in such an atmosphere I doubt that any Albanian judge would remain unbiased, even if they wanted to,” said Pantović.