Oliver Ivanovic goes on hunger strike in detention

PRISTINA - Oliver Ivanovic, one of Serb leaders from northern Kosovo-Metohija (KiM), began a hunger strike in a detention unit in Pristina on Tuesday, said his defense attorney Nebojsa Vlajic.

Ivanovic's only request is that he be transferred to a detention unit in Kosovska Mitrovica, Vlajic noted.

The leader of the Citizens' Initiative "Freedom, Democracy, Justice" (GI SDP) has been in detention for over a month.

He was arrested on January 27, 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.

The Serbian government provided guarantees on February 10 that Ivanovic and three other Serb detainees would be available to the EULEX mission throughout their trials.

Despite that, on February 27, a pre-trial judge of the Basic Court in Kosovska Mitrovica extended the detention on remand for Ivanovic by two months, at the request of the Kosovo Special Prosecution Office, offering the reasoning that there is the risk of flight and the risk that the defendant might influence witnesses.

The GI SDP then announced that it "expects the Serbian government to freeze the talks in Brussels until the guarantees offered for the Serbs are not accepted".

Photo Tanjug/ Boki