BELGRADE -- Serbia is ready to provide all legal guarantees for the defense of Oliver Ivanović, Serbian Government Office for Kosovo Director Marko Đurić has told Tanjug.
"Our position on the inadmissibility and the harmfulness of the six months of baseless custody for Ivanović without charge is known, and on the fact that previous guarantees of the government of the Republic of Serbia were ignored," Đurić said.
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA - Two passenger cars burned down in northern Kosovska Mitrovica early Tuesday in what was most likely an intentional fire, Tanjug learned from the Kosovo police.
Regional police chief Zeljko Bojic told Tanjug that two vehicles, a Chrysler and a Mercedes S500, burned down at 4.55 a.m. in a fire in the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica.
Bojic identified the owner of the vehicles as J.I., who he said is a resident of Kosovska Mitrovica, and added that the police arrived on the scene to investigate the incident.
Chairman of the Serbian parliament’s Committee for Kosovo-Metohija (KiM) Milovan Drecun said Sunday that it was necessary for the executive government in Pristina to be set up as soon as possible as it was vital for the creation of the community of Serb municipalities (ZSO) and continuation of the Brussels process.
The Chairman of the Committee for Kosovo and Metohija of the Serbian Assembly, Milovan Drecun said that there are many questions that need to be open in the area of normalization of relations, but it is obvious that the intention of Pristina is to slow down the process, particularly when it comes to the Community of Serbian municipalities (ZSO). "The key question is when the executive power in Pristina will be formed. Until that happens, we will not have collocutor to discuss the issue," said Drecun for TV Pink.
The chairperson of the Serbian parliament’s Committee for Human and Minority Rights Meho Omerovic assessed, with regard to the ban for his visit to Ivanovic, that “something is very suspicious in relation with Ivanovic’s detention” in Kosovska Mitrovica.
BELGRADE - In previous six years, a decline in the political rights of the Serb people in the region has been noted, and this trend has been particularly marked in the last two years, reads a regular report by the Progressive Club.
“This is a consequence of the economic crisis, but also the political circumstances in Serbia and problems facing the Serbian society,” President of the Progressive Club Cedomir Antic said when presenting the report.
Serbia’s former ambassador to Turkey and the Vatican Darko Tanaskovic, who has been put forward as Serbia’s ambassador to UNESCO, said Monday that Serbia will set up a national commission for UNESCO.
Due to its relatively unfavorable international position over the past decade, Serbia has not been able act timely and in the right way to protect its cultural and spiritual heritage in the province of Kosovo-Metohija and in neighboring states, Tanaskovic said on a talk show broadcast by the state-run RTS.
STRASBOURG - President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Anne Brasseur has welcomed a report by special prosecutor John Clint Williamson concerning an investigation into the 1999 Kosovo organ trafficking case, expressing satisfaction that “truth’s onward march continues also in this case.”
Williamson’s report openly speaks about ethnic cleansing and absolutely confirms that there is evidence that senior members of the Kosovo Liberation Army organized planned attacks on Serbs and other minorities, said British analyst James Ker-Lindsay. "In many ways the report is stronger than expected. It clearly shows that there is evidence that senior members of the KLA organized planned attacks on Serbs, Roma and other minorities, as well as the Albanians, after the conflict in June 1999," said Ker-Lindsay.
The Director of the Serbian government’s Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric said today that Serbia welcomes any activity which leads toward uncovering war crimes and perpetrators, however we can only be satisfied after verdicts, which should bring to justice all those who committed crimes in Kosovo and Metohija, become final.