Serbia, Kosovo Trade Blame as Ivanovic Murder Probe Falters

Murdered Kosovo Serb politician Oliver Ivanovic's lawyer and party colleagues say they are not being informed about the progress of the investigation by the authorities of either Kosovo and Serbia, while Belgrade and Pristina continue to accuse each other of obstructing progress in the case.

"Belgrade and Pristina condemn each other in their statements, like they did before, [giving] no new details," said Ksenija Bozovic from Ivanovic's Freedom, Democracy, Justice party.

Ivanovic's lawyer Nebojsa Vlajic said he has received no information from the Kosovo investigators, and that he has no contact with the Belgrade authorities.

"There's nothing new, they don't want to talk about it and there is nobody to speak to [at the Kosovo prosecution]," Vlajic told BIRN.

Oliver Ivanovic was assassinated more than four months ago, on January 16, in front of his party offices in the northern Kosovo town of Mitrovica.

Despite officially agreeing to exchange information on the case, the promised cooperation between the prosecutors of Serbia and Kosovo never materialised.

The Kosovo Special Prosecutor's office told BIRN that the Basic Prosecutor in Mitrovica filed four requests for cooperation to Serbia, asking for data such as wiretapped phone calls, incoming and outgoing calls from Ivanovic's phone, and other similar data.

"But so far we have not had any positive answer in this direction. We welcome any cooperation and help to shed light on this case that would come from the competent bodies of Serbia," the Kosovo prosecutor's office said in a written reply.

The relevant Serbian prosecutor's office did not respond to BIRN's inquiries by the time of publication.

The lack of any visible progress in the investigation has spurred...