This article is from the source 'rtcom' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.rt.com/news/416059-kosovo-leading-serb-politician-killed/

The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Leading Serb politician in Kosovo shot dead Leading Serb politician in Kosovo shot dead
(35 minutes later)
The leader of a Serbian party in Kosovo has been gunned down, local media report. Oliver Ivanovic was one of the key politicians in the Serb-majority northern part of the region.The leader of a Serbian party in Kosovo has been gunned down, local media report. Oliver Ivanovic was one of the key politicians in the Serb-majority northern part of the region.
Ivanovic, 64, was fatally injured by an unidentified assailant in front of the office of his Citizens’ Initiative Party, Serbian state television reported.Ivanovic, 64, was fatally injured by an unidentified assailant in front of the office of his Citizens’ Initiative Party, Serbian state television reported.
“Unfortunately, I wish it weren't true, but doctors declared Oliver dead at 9:30 this morning,” Nebojsa Vlajic, Ivanovic's lawyer told AP by phone.“Unfortunately, I wish it weren't true, but doctors declared Oliver dead at 9:30 this morning,” Nebojsa Vlajic, Ivanovic's lawyer told AP by phone.
The politician was earlier convicted by a Kosovo court of war crimes committed during a war in late 1990s. That verdict was overturned and a retrial had been underway.  In protest over the killing, Serbia announced it would cut consultation with Pristina. The head of Belgrade’s Office for Kosovo and Metohijam, Marko Duric, called the killing a “terrorist attack” targeting the entire Serbian people, TANJUG news agency said.
DETAILS TO FOLLOW Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has called a national security council meeting to discuss the killing of Ivanovic. He is scheduled to deliver a televised address later in the day.
The Kosovo authorities condemned the killing, saying it was a challenge to the rule of law in Kosovo. “Violence is unacceptable, without taking into consideration where it comes from and toward whom it is directed,” the government in Pristina said in a statement.
Kosovo, once the core of the medieval Serbian state, experienced increasing tension between the Serbian and Albanian populations, escalating into a civil war in 1998-99, in which NATO intervention ensured the defeat of the Serbs. The southern province declared independence in 2008, which was never recognized by Belgrade.
Ivanovic served for several years as State Secretary in the now-downgraded Serbian ministry for Kosovo affairs.
In 2014, he and four other ethnic Serbs were arrested by Kosovo authorities over alleged war crimes. The verdict in the case was passed in January 2016. Ivanovic was sentenced to nine years in prison. The verdict was overturned in February 2017. The politician remained under house arrest till April 2017, when he was allowed greater freedom of movement.