Syle Hoxha

Milan Radoicic, who was wanted for arrest as the alleged leader of an organised criminal group responsible for the murder of political party leader Oliver Ivanovic in January 2018, has returned home to Serb-majority northern Kosovo after being on the run for more than two years, police told BIRN.

The six defendants in the Oliver Ivanovic murder trial - Nedelko Spasojevic, Marko Rosic, Silvana Arsovic, Dragisa Markovic, Zarko Jovanovic and Rade Basara - all entered not guilty pleas as their trial for assisting the killing of the Kosovo Serb politician began on Tuesday at Pristina Basic Court.

The family of the late Vetevendosje activist Astrit Dehari claim the results of an autopsy conducted by Swiss experts show he was murdered in detention in Prizren in 2016.

Dehari died in the correctional facility in the western Kosovo city after being arrested on suspicion of terrorism for allegedly throwing an explosive device in the parliament.

Kosovo police said they arrested two suspects - one of them a police officer - in the Serb-majority north of Mitrovica early on Wednesday morning in connection with the unsolved murder of Oliver Ivanovic in January 2018.

Another suspect, also a policeman, is also wanted for arrest, police added.

Special Prosecutor Syle Hoxha, who is investigating last year's murder of Kosovo Serb political party leader Oliver Ivanovic, told BIRN on Tuesday that he wants to question Rada Trajkovic about her claim that she was offered a videotape of the killing.

Kosovo Serb politician Trajkovic made the claim to Serbian media on September 28, saying that she refused to take the tape.

Kosovo Police said that the 19 policemen who have been arrested will be held in custody for 48 hours after Tuesday morning's operation, which sparked outbreaks of unrest in Serb-majority northern Kosovo and triggered angry reactions from Belgrade.

Kosovo police launched raids in the early hours of Tuesday morning in the Serb-majority north of the divided town of Mitrovica, sparking an angry reaction from Serbia.

Ten people have been arrested so far, and the police action is ongoing, according to a BIRN reporter.

A Kosovo court on Tuesday placed 10 women repatriated from Syria under one month of house arrest, saying it suspected they had committed the crime of joining a foreign military or police force. If they are found guilty, they could face up to 15 years in prison.

Oliver Ivanovic. Photo: EPA-EFE/Andrej Cukic.

Syle Hoxha, the prosecutor working on the Oliver Ivanovic murder case, told BIRN on Tuesday that the probe has been widened to include two further suspects with possible links to organised crime.

Beside the war crimes committed by the ethnic Albanian KLA ("Kosovo Liberation Army"), Kosovo courts will also deal with the alleged crimes committed by Serbs against Albanians.