7,000 signatures for Ivanović’s release pending trial

7,000 signatures for Ivanović’s release pending trial

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA -- A petition with more than 7,000 signatures requesting the release of Oliver Ivanović pending his trial will be submitted to EULEX representatives.

The petition will also be sent to international judges of the Basic Court in Kosovsa Mitrovica and EU Special Representative in Kosovo Samuel Zbogar "on Wednesday or Thursday."

This has been announced by the Citizens’ Initiative SDP, a political organization led by Ivanović.

Ksenija Božović, SDP deputy leader, said told Kontakt Plus Radio on Wednesday that the petition was launched by the SDP in cooperation with the Serbian government and the Office for Kosovo and Metohija.

Ivanović was arrested in late January on suspicion of alleged involvement in crimes committed in Kosovo during 1999 and 2000, including a serious murder.

After spending more than a month in remand custody in Priština, he went on a week-long hunger strike demanding to be transferred to a detention unit in northern Kosovska Mitrovica.

Ivanović is one of the detained Serbs in Kosovo that the Serbian government has given guarantees of their being available to Kosovo’s judicial authorities in exchange for their release pending trial.