Oliver Ivanović

1999–2004

With the establishment of the Serbian National Council of Kosovo and Metohija in 1999, he was appointed as the president of the executive board for North Kosovo. He was removed from this position on 6 June 2001. He was also removed from the presidential function of the Regional Board of Serbian National Council in October 2001.^[3]

Also, from 1998 to 2004, he served as the general director of nickel mine company "Feronikl" located in Drenas.^[2]

Ivanović joined the Democratic Alternative led by Nebojša Čović. On 2 August 2001, he became the Head of the Department for Economic Development and Reconstruction of the "Coordination Center for Kosovo and Metohija", while the Head of the Center was Nebojša Čović.^[2]

Ivanović led the Coalition "Return" in the 2001 Kosovan parliamentary election held in November 2001, getting 89,388 votes which earned 22 places in the Assembly of Kosovo (120 places in total) for his coalition.^[5]

He was appointed as the minister in the newly formed Government of Kosovo and a member of the Presidency of the Assembly of Kosovo on 2 December 2001.^[6] In March 2004, a violent unrest in Kosovo broke out, in which Kosovo Albanians took part in wide-ranging attacks on the Kosovo Serbs minority. The Government of Kosovo consisted of Serbian representatives fell soon after.

2004–2008

In 2004, Ivanović's party Democratic Alternative (DA) merged into the Social Democratic Party (SDP), and he together with Nebojša Čović became one of the party's leaders.

Also, in the same year he became the director of the National Employment Service for Kosovo and Metohija controlled by the Government of Serbia.^[2]

He was the leader of the Serbian List for Kosovo and Metohija in the 2004 Kosovan parliamentary election held in October 2004.^[7] The election was massively boycotted by Kosovo Serbs.^[8] Eventually, the list won 1,414 votes, thus taking 8 out of 10 Serbian minority places in the Assembly of Kosovo (110 places in total).^[7]

2008年2月17日、コソボはコソボ議会でセルビアからの独立を一方的に宣言した。全120人の議員のうち109人が出席した会議で、議会はコソボの独立を全会一致で宣言した^{[ 9 ]。}一方、コソボのセルビア系少数民族の代表11人は全員、議事をボイコットした^{[ 10 ] 。}

2008年7月、イヴァノヴィッチは、ゴラン・ボグダノヴィッチ大臣の下、新設されたコソボ・メトヒヤ省の国務長官としてセルビア政府に加わった。^{[ 11 ]}同省は、解散した「コソボ・メトヒヤ調整センター」の管轄を引き継いだ。^{[ 12 ]}

2010年1月、社会民主党は消滅し、その結果、イヴァノヴィッチとチョヴィッチの間で激しい言葉の応酬が起こった。^{[ 13 ]}その後すぐに、彼は市民イニシアチブ「Srbija, demokratija, pravda」（英語：「セルビア、民主主義、正義」）を結成した。それ以来、彼はこの市民イニシアチブの代表を務めている。^{[ 14 ]}

彼は2012年7月まで国務長官の職にとどまった。^{[ 15 ]}

2012年7月、 2012年のセルビア議会選挙後、アレクサンダル・ヴチッチ率いるセルビア進歩党とイヴィツァ・ダチッチ率いるセルビア社会党がセルビア政府を樹立した。

2013年4月、セルビア政府とコソボ政府は、両国関係の正常化に関するブリュッセル合意に署名した。

2013年地方選挙

2013年9月、イヴァノヴィッチは、コソボ中央選挙管理委員会の要請により、自身の市民イニシアチブの名称を「SDP」-「Srbija, demokratija, pravda」（英語「セルビア、民主主義、正義」）^{[ 16 ]}から「GI SDP - Oliver Ivanovic」に変更せざるを得なくなったと発表した。同委員会は、コソボで活動する政治団体の名称に他国の名称を使用することを禁止していた。^{[ 17 ]}

Ivanović decided to run in the 2013 Kosovan local elections for the president of North Mitrovica, with his civic initiative "SDP".^[18] The election campaign was marked with the Serbian Progressive Party-led Government of Serbia public calls to Kosovo Serbs to come out and vote in Kosovan elections organized by the Government of Kosovo, for the first time since Kosovo gained independence.^[19] The Government of Serbia also called the citizens to vote for the Serb List candidates.^[19]

Eventually, Ivanović lost to Krstimir Pantić of the civic initiative Serb List, finishing with 1,924 votes (45.62%).^[20]

2014–17 Imprisonment and threats

In January 2014, two months following the local elections, Ivanović was arrested on suspicion over war crimes which occurred in 1999 and 2000.^[21] He was sentenced to nine years in jail on 21 January 2016 for war crimes by judges from the EULEX Kosovo.^[22] However, the Appeals Court in Pristina annulled the guilty verdict on 12 February 2017 and ordered a new trial.^[23] The case was dropped after his assassination. In 2021, Malcolm Simmons, former head judge at the EU’s rule-of-law mission in Kosovo, told Kosovo MPs that he was pressured by EULEX to bring a case against Ivanović for political reasons so that he would not run for office.^[24]

In July 2017, his car was burned down by unknown perpetrators.^[25]

In September 2017, three months after the 2017 Kosovan parliamentary election, the Serb List with the support of the Serbian political leadership, formed the Government of Kosovo with PANA Coalition, which is formed of former Kosovo Liberation Army leaders (active in Kosovo War).^[26]

イヴァノヴィッチは2017年初頭に刑務所から釈放され、その際、セルビア人が多数派を占める北コソボの劣悪な状況を指摘した。インタビューで彼は、北コソボのコソボ系セルビア人はコソボ系アルバニア人を恐れているのではなく、「ナンバープレートのないSUVに乗っている地元の犯罪者セルビア人」を恐れていると述べた。^{[ 27 ]}また、「あらゆる角で麻薬が売られており、親たちは非常に心配している」とも述べた。彼は、わずか数年の間に、50件以上の車両放火事件、多数の手榴弾投下事件、2件の未解決殺人事件が発生したことを指摘し、「これらすべては、監視カメラで完全にカバーされているわずか2.5平方キロメートルの地域で起こった」と付け加えた。^{[ 27 ]}彼は、「警察が加害者を怒らせることを恐れているのは明らかだ」とし、「加害者は治安部隊出身である可能性が高い」と推測した。^{[ 27 ]}

2017年地方選挙

彼は2017年のコソボ地方選挙で、自身の市民イニシアチブ「SDP」から北ミトロヴィツァの市長選に出馬することを決めた。選挙運動中、彼はセルビア政府と与党セルビア進歩党がコソボ地方選挙で他のセルビア政党よりもセルビアリストを優遇していることを公然と批判した。^{[ 28 ] [ 29 ]}

セルビア人リストのリーダーで北ミトロヴィツァ選挙の対立候補であるゴラン・ラキッチは、イヴァノヴィッチをコソボ政治における「無関係な人物」と評した。 ^{[ 30 ]}また、コソボ・メトヒヤ事務所 長のマルコ・ジュリッチを含むセルビア政府の著名な官僚らは、イヴァノヴィッチを「裏切り者」で反セルビア的な政治家だと公然と非難した。^{[ 31 ]}イヴァノヴィッチはこれに対し、「私は、私を反セルビア的だと非難する者たちが、自分たちの[セルビアへの愛国心]を証明しなければならないよりもはるかに困難な方法で、自分のセルビアへの愛国心を証明してきた」と答えた。^{[ 31 ]}

最終的に、イヴァノヴィッチは1,475票（18.52％）で2位となり、5,372票（67.45％）を獲得したゴラン・ラキッチに次ぐ結果となった。^{[ 32 ]}また、セルビア人リストはセルビア人が多数を占める10の自治体すべてで勝利した。^{[ 29 ]}

Kosovo police arrested four persons on 23 November 2018: three suspected towards involvement in the murder and one for obstruction to police work.^[43]

Silvana Arsović, Oliver Ivanović party's administrator, was detained for 48 hours on 26 November 2018 to be questioned under suspicion if she manipulated security cameras outside the party office in Mitrovica before the murder, when the murder took place near the office. Prosecutor Syle Hoxha said that Silvana Arsović was detained only for 48 hours.^[44][45]

Kosovo police officer Dragiša Marković was detained for 1 day on 10 February 2018 under suspicion of manipulating the evidences on the place of the murder of Oliver Ivanović. Then, he was arrested a second time on 23 November 2018.^[45]

Mario Milošević, a Montenegrin citizen, was arrested on 18 July 2018 in Pristina. (He was also on a warrant list by Interpol towards separate murder connected with organized crime in Podgorica.) On 23 November 2018, Kosovo police officer Nedeljko Spasojević was arrested along with Marko Rosić, a person associated by media with Partizan Belgrade fan club, in North Kosovo.^[45] Strahinja Danković was also arrested together with Mario Milošević. Montenegrin media call him a football fan of Serbian club FK Rad.^[45]

Milan Radoičić, a businessman and head of Kosovo Serb party ″Srpska Lista″, was on suspicion towards involvement in the murder, his home was raided by Kosovo Police on 23 November 2018, but he escaped arrest fleeing to Serbia. There in Serbia, Milan Radoičić was interviewed on 26 November 2018 by Serbian police, when he denied his any involvement in the case. Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić said that Milan Radoičić is innocent, and Kosovo police wanted to kill him during raid to put guilt of organizing the murder on Serbian government.^[45]

In April 2019, Kosovo prosecutor Syle Hoxha stated that two new suspects were being investigated for their possible involvement, both of whom were tied to organized crime. The suspects were not named.^[46]

In February 2020, a new trial began with six Serbs charged with the participation in the assassination of Ivanović. All of them pleaded not guilty of all charges at the preparatory hearing before the Special Court in Pristina.^[47] In June 2024, four individuals were convicted and sentenced to prison: Marko Rosić, Nedelko Spasojević, Dragisa Marković and Zarko Ivanović. Silvana Arsović was acquitted during the trial while another one of the suspects, Rade Basara, was also previously acquitted.^[48]

Nebojša Stefanović, Serbian Interior Minister, told in January 2019 that Serbia is leading its own investigation towards the murder tracing some persons who were in north Kosovo then moved to Western Europe. He didn't name the suspected.^[46] President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić stated that German Albanian Fljorim Ejupi is the wanted assassin, which was negated by Kosovo.^[49]