Home detention ordered for Zarko Veselinovic

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA - Zarko Veselinovic, one of the four Serb detainees in Kosovo-Metohija, has been put under house arrest, attorney Dejan A. Vasic, a member of his defense team, said on Friday.

The decision has been delivered by EULEX judge Nuno de Madureira, based on the Serbian government's guarantees, as the court ascertained that they reduce the danger of flight, Vasic told Tanjug.

The EULEX police arrested Veselinovic in Rudare, the municipality of Zvecan in northern Kosovo, in July 2013, and in November he faced a suspended sentence of nine months for illegal possession of weapons.

Veselinovic is still in custody on suspicion of attempted murder of two members of the Kosovo special police unit-Rosu.

On February 10, the Serbian government gave guarantees that the four Serb arrestees, including Veselinovic, will be available to the EULEX mission throughout their trials in exchange for their release pending trial.

Oliver Ivanovic, leader of the Citizens' Initiative SDP (GI SDP), is also among the Serbs for whom the Serbian government guarantees. However, a EULEX judge extended Ivanovic's detention for two months on Thursday.

The other two Serbs are Dragoljub Delibasic, former police chief in Kosovska Mitrovica, and Laza Lazic from Strpce.

Ivanovic and Delibasic were arrested on suspicion of involvement in an alleged war crime in 1999 and post-war incidents in 2000, including an aggravated murder, and for inciting to ethnically motivated murder.

Lazic was arrested for interfering with the second round of the local elections on December 1, 2013, and charged with acts against Kosovo's Constitution.

Photo Tanjug, Boki (Archive)