The leader of the Civic Initiative ‘SDP’ Oliver Ivanovic, before the Municipal Court in Kosovska Mitrovica, has pleaded not guilty regarding the all charges submitted against him for involvement in war crimes in 1999 and 2000. " I am absolutely not guilty," said Ivanovic in response to a question of Judge, Roxana Komsa, if he feels guilty.

The other four accused Serbs, Dragoljub Delibasic, father and son Ilija and Nebojša Vujacic and Aleksandar Lazović also pleaded not guilty for the actions they are charged for.

Belgrade - Director of the Office of the Government of Serbia for Media Relations Milivoje Mihajlovic dismissed the allegations that the Special Prosecutor's Office for War Crimes in Serbia helped in writing the indictment against the leader of the CI SDP Oliver Ivanovic.

Serbia had no part in it, he told TV Most in Zvecan/Zveqan.

"If a crime existed, Oliver Ivanovic would have been previously prosecuted in Serbia," Mihajlovic said, adding that the "key witness", to the crimes he is charged with, the Hague tribunal "dismissed as frivolous".

Oliver Ivanovic, president of the Citizens' Initiative SPD to Danas from prison in Mitrovica

NOVI SAD - Oliver Ivanovic, leader of the Citizens' Initiative 'Freedom, Democracy, Justice“ (SDP) and the most famous prisoner in Kosovo-Metohija (KiM), said Sunday that the participation of KiM Serbs in the new government in Pristina, in full coordination with the Serbian government, could prove a far more efficient way to promote their vital interests.

Pristina, Mitrovica, Belgrade - Guarantees for detained Serbs from northern Kosovo, submitted by the Government of Serbia on February 10 to EULEX, all international bodies in Kosovo, as well as ambassadors of Quint countries in Belgrade, are valid during the whole procedure. We'll be seeking of EULEX, which is responsible for the respect of human rights and international standards, to accept guarantees during the procedure - the Office of the Government of Serbia for Kosovo and Metohija told Danas.

Milivoje Mihajlovic, Director of the Office for Media Relations in the Serbian Government, said today that judge should release on bail the CI SDP leader Oliver Ivanovic.

"I think judge should decide to release Ivanovic on bail, because it’s irrelevant for the political scene in Kosovo whether he is out of custody or in it, because he was arrested in order to be removed from political life ahead of parliamentary elections in Kosovo," Mihajlovic told Radio Television Serbia (RTS).

BELGRADE - The leader of the Citizens' Initiative "Freedom, Democracy, Justice" (GI SDP), indicted for war crimes against ethnic Albanians recently, will have to remain in remand custody until the end of his trial despite the Serbian government guarantees that he will be available to the judicial authorities at all times if released pending trial, Belgrade-based daily Politika reports in its Tuesday issue.

Nebojsa Vlajic says to Blic the indictment against the CI SDP leader Oliver Ivanovic and four Serbs is based on unreliable witnesses’ testimonies and that there is no physical evidence.

The testimonies were written on about 5,000 pages and handed to Ivanovic’s lawyer on Friday afternoon. Vlajić says for Blic that he received over eleven binders, each about four inches thick containing up to 500 pages of testimony.

Citizens' Initiative ‘SDP’ whose leader Oliver Ivanovic was accused of involvement in the murders in 1999 and 2000 in Kosovo, criticized EULEX claiming that they have double standards towards Serbs and Albanians.

BELGRADE - Oliver Ivanovic, one of the Serb leaders in northern Kosovo-Metohija (KiM), against whom a criminal indictment for crimes against ethnic Albanians has been issued recently, said he had been arrested so that his political action could be prevented.

“My arrest had only one goal: to exclude me from political and public life,” Ivanovic said in an interview he gave to Belgrade-based daily Politika in writing on the day before the indictments against him was issued.