Slain Kosovo Serb Politician’s Administrator ‘Part of Murder Gang’

An amended version of Oliver Ivanovic murder case indictment, which has been seen by BIRN, accuses his political party's administrator, Silvana Arsovic, of being part of an organised criminal group that was behind the killing.

Arsovic is charged, as the only person present in Ivanovic's political party's office in the Kosovo town of Mitrovica when he was shot dead outside the building in January 2018, of turning off the power so the closed-circuit television cameras did not work when he was murdered.

"This allowed the suspects not to be recorded by cameras when they committed the murder… while immediately after the murder, [she] activated the cameras at the [party] offices," the indictment alleges.

Arsovic has repeatedly denied the accusations.

The original indictment named Nedeljko Spasojevic, Marko Rosic, Rade Basara, Milan Radojicic and Zvonko Veselinovic as members of the organised criminal group responsible for Ivanovic's death.

Radoicic and Veselinovic, both prominent Kosovo Serbs, are accused of being the group's leaders. They have both fled to Serbia to avoid arrest and have denied wrongdoing.

Spasojevic and Basara were Kosovo police officers before they were arrested.

The amended indictment still does not name the person or persons who carried out the gun attack on Ivanovic.

Arsovic had been charged with involvement in the killing of Ivanovic in the original indictment, but not as part of the criminal group.

She had been due to go on trial alongside Spasojevic, Rosic, Pasara and two other former Kosovo Serb policemen, Dragisa Markovic and Zarko Jovanovic, at the end of December.

But the first hearing was postponed until February to give defence lawyers time to study the amended indictment.