"Justice won, law won, and Serbia won"

MUP State Secretary Biljana Popovic-Ivkovic says the voting at the Interpol Assembly earlier in the week represented a convincing victory for Serbia.

This Interior Ministry (MUP) official said on Thursday that thanks to this strong support, Serbia "managed to safeguard Interpol from the influence of politics."

On Tuesday, the organization voted to once again reject Pristina's membership bid - an attempt Serbia strongly opposed.

"It was hard, tense, but as it turned out, a convincing victory. On the day of the official ceremony of the opening of the Interpol General Assembly (Interior) Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic lodged a protest over the fact Kosovo was on the agenda at all," Popovic-Ivkovic told Prva TV in Belgrade.

She added that "all countries" came under pressure, but that Serbia claimed a convincing victory in the first round of voting.

"Thanks to the respect of the countries that strongly stood behind (us), Serbia won. In the second round as many as 19 countries stayed out of the hall. Justice won, law won, Serbia won," Popovic-Ivkovic stressed.

The MUP official added that there had been provocations by the Pristina side, and that their delegation walked out of the hall "after the fiasco."