Dacic: Brussels talks to discuss Ivanovic issue

BELGRADE - One of the main topics of talks between Belgrade and Pristina in Brussels, which should take place in mid-March, will be releasing from detention of Oliver Ivanovic, leader of the Citizens’ Initiative ‘Freedom, Democracy, Justice’, and other Serbs who have got arrested in Kosovo-Metohija (KiM), Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic said Friday.

Dacic could not give the exact date of the talks, but said they will be held somewhere between March 13 and 19.

He pointed out that on February 10, the Serbian government sought for Ivanovic and three other Serbs to be released pending trial, offering guarantees that they will be available to the EULEX mission throughout their trials.

Based on the guarantees, EULEX judge Nuno de Madureira ordered the release of Zarko Veselinovic, one of the four detained Serbs.

However, despite the guarantees, Ivanovic's detention has been extended for two more months on Thursday.

EULEX spokeswoman Irina Gudeljevic told Tanjug that the ruling was made as there is a risk that Ivanovic might influence witnesses or flee.

Photo Tanjug/D. Peternek