Authorities in Kosovo have charged two men in connection with the murder of Oliver Ivanovic, according to local media reports.
Nedeljko Spasojevic, a former Kosovan police officer, and Marko Rosic, a member of Partizan Belgrade fan club, have been charged with aiding and abetting in the politician’s murder in January 2018. Spasojevic and Rosic were arrested in November 2018 along with a third man, who was later released.
News of the charges being brought against the men comes as Kosovo nears the two-year anniversary of Ivanovic’s death while the main suspect remains at large. Serbian List vice president Milan Radoicic, who is suspected by Kosovan prosecutors of ordering the hit on Ivanovic, fled to Serbia where he is being sheltered from extradition despite being the subject of an international arrest issued by Kosovo.
In October, two men, one of whom is a police officer, were detained in the predominantly Serb enclave of north Mitrovica also in connection with the murder.
Oliver Ivanovic, the leader of the Serb “Freedom, Democracy, Justice” party was shot dead on the morning of January 16, 2018, just one month before the 10th anniversary of Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia.
The shooting took place outside his party headquarters in North Mitrovica, a city tensely divided along ethnic lines between Serb and Kosovar Albanians.
The controversial politician was awaiting retrial having been found guilty in 2016 of being involved in the killing of ten Albanians during Kosovo’s war of independence from Serbia. In later years, however, he had come to be regarded as a rare voice for moderation who accepted Kosovo’s independence.
His calls for peaceful coexistence ethnic between Serb and Albanian Kosovars had led to his being branded a traitor by hardline Serb nationalists.
