- Basic court in north Mitrovica has sentenced the leader of Serbs, Oliver Ivanovic with 9 years in prison for war crimes against Albanians during and after the War of Kosovo. While other accused are Dragoljub Delibashiç Aleksandar Lazovic and Nebojsa Ilija Vujacic were acquitted.
Oliver Ivanovic sentence to 9 years in prison came after the confirmation of the indictment that he ordered the killing of ethnic Albanians in Mitrovica on Aprill 14, 1999, during the NATO bombing, when were leader of a paramilitary police unit.
At that time, police forces conducted a kind of ethnic cleansing by persecuting and killing Albanians. Albanian families have been evicted from their homes. Women, children and elderly were separated from the rest of men, and were ordered to go to Albania.According to the charges proven in the trial against Ivanovic, 15 Albanian men were gathered together up to a wall and were taken by a group of Serb paramilitaries who have tied theyr hands behind the back, threatened and offended.
Then, all they were ordered to walk to the main road "Miladin Popovic" where they stopped. There was a paramilitary checkpoint.
According to the indictment, the six men were separated from the others and were also ordered to go to Albania. The rest of the 9 people were sent to their checkpoint. At that time, Oliver Ivanovic was chief of this checkpoint, wearing a blue uniform.
"Before that nine of these persons arrived to the checkpoint, one member asked Oliver Ivanovic:" What do we do with them? ". This man said, 'Why do you ask? Act on orders". The paramilitaries then them two by two and killed them with bullets, "reads the indictment against Ivanovic.
The trial of Serb politician in North Mitrovica held under security measures due to increased tensions in that part of Kosovo.