Ivanovic: I do not feel safe, they want to discourage me
The leader of the Citizens' Initiative Serbia, Democracy, Justice Oliver Ivanovic, who has been on a hunger strike since the denial of his third request for transfer to a detention unit in Kosovska Mitrovica, says that he does not feel safe in the Pristina prison, and that he is a target of politically motivated proceedings devoid of any sense.
(kosovocompromisestuff) Wednesday, March 05, 2014
Such proceedings would have been destined to failure before any legal institution, and the prosecution office is aware of this, but their goal is to exhaust me, discourage me and, eventually, break me down, Ivanovic said in a letter published by the Belgrade daily Politika on Wednesday after he was told on Tuesday that his third request for transfer to the Kosovska Mitrovica detention unit has been denied."In spite of the fact that I have legal ground for this, as well as legal, human and economic reasons which should be more than sufficient for any truly legal institution... I seem to expect to see justice and humaneness at the wrong place," Ivanovic said, adding that this can be the only explanation for persistent refusals to transfer him to a location closer to his family.He also said that members of his family are harassed and forced to travel to Pristina, which is no longer safe for them."In addition to being a violation of the law, all those refusals also constitute a violation of my rights," he said.Ivanovic said that his legitimate fear for his own safety in a fully ethnic Albanian environment has even led him to waive the right to indoor walks, and that he only watches Albanian-language television channels. Ivanovic said that he has decided to go on a hunger strike due to the treatment he is experiencing, which he described as extremely inhuman and inhumane."Your support means a lot to me, as do all the efforts of the Serbian government, but this, apparently, is not sufficient, so I have to choose this form of protest and draw attention to the injustice against me," he explained.Law and order must be maintained in Mitrovica through reason and constructive cooperation and the backlog of the town's utility problems must be dealt with, he said, adding that political solutions that are not in the interest of the citizens must not be allowed to be imposed."The process of constituting the municipal authorities must be completed, because Pristina hopes that it will end in failure and provide another 'argument' against the Serbs in northern Mitrovica and the community of Serb municipalities," Ivanovic noted, adding that "the Serbs are not forgiven for surviving in Mitrovica and northern Kosovo."
