Serbs protest against detention of Ivanovic

Ivanovic the leader of the Citizens Initiative Serbia, Democracy, Justice (GI SDP). He was detained on war crimes charges. Ivanovic is a candidate for the mayor of north Kosovska Mitrovica in the elections scheduled for February 23, and he was arrested on suspicion of involvement in the alleged war crime in 1999 and post-war incidents in 2000, including an aggravated murder. Ivanovic went to the police station in Kosovska Mitrovica on his own will on Monday, where he was questioned by the police and remanded in 30-day custody. The protesters, including his party colleagues, officials of the Serbian Government Office for Kosovo and the Diocese of Raska-Prizren requested that Ivanovic should be released pending trial. Mirko Krlic, official of the Office for Kosovo, called on representatives of the international community and the ones who pull the strings in Pristina's judiciary to release Ivanovic, stressing that this may be the last chance for them to earn the trust of Serbs.“Trust is the crucial word which can lead to peaceful life in Kosovo,” Krlic said, and told EULEX that the decision to release Ivanovic pending trial would be a true example that freedom and justice, rather than terror and pressure, are the principles that Europe is based on. “Today we are defending Ivanovic's right to freedom, the violation of his freedom is also the violation of the freedom of all of us,” Krlic said. He expressed expectation that the international community will launch a proceeding in the Yellow House case against the ones involved in the human organ harvesting from Serbs and other non-Albanians in Kosovo. Krlic also underlined that no one has been held accountable of the crime which claimed the lives of two and wounded four Serb children in Gorazdevac on August 13, 2003, and the assassination of 14 Serb harvesters in Staro Gracko on July 23, 1999, and other crimes committed against Serb civilians. Ksenija Bozovic, an SDP official, stated that the case against Ivanovic has been plotted by the ones who want Kosovo's independence and the ones who have incited destabilization in Serb-dominated northern Kosovo for years. She said that the protests will not stop until Ivanovic is released pending trial. Bishop Teodosije of Raska and Prizren warned that the EULEX decision to launch a cease on Ivanovic's criminal accountability is viewed as politically motivated by Serbs and it creates confusion and instability at a very sensitive moment. In a letter to EULEX, which was read during the protest, Bishop Teodosije also underlined that Ivanovic should be released pending trial.