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Serbian leader urges EU, UN to let Belgrade join probe into Kosovo politician’s murder

One of the leaders of Kosovo Serbs Oliver Ivanovic was gunned down on Tuesday

BELGRADE, January 16. /TASS/. Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic has called on the missions of the EU and UN in Kosovo to let Serbian state agencies to join the investigation into the murder of Oliver Ivanovic, the leader of Freedom, Democracy and Truth party in northern Kosovo and Metohija.

Vucic made this intention clear on Tuesday in an address to the nation after a meeting with the country’s Security Council.

"The Security Council decided at the meeting to send letters to UNMIK and EULEX where we will demand a role for Serbia’s state agencies in investigating Ivanovic’s murder in Kosovo and Metohija because we are confident that our participation in the investigation will lead to solving the crime," he stated.

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The UN, EU and OSCE missions in Kosovo have resolutely condemned Ivanovic’s assassination and demanded an investigation into the crime as soon as possible.

Ivanovic, one of the leaders of Kosovo Serbs was gunned down on Tuesday morning when he was entering the entrance to a building where his party is located. Police said later no one had heard the shots, but Ivanovic’s neighbor who was returning home after shopping found the wounded politician.

Somewhat later, the police found a burned car without a license plate several neighborhoods away from the scene of the crime. They believe it had to have been used by the killers.

Ivanovic was rushed to a hospital in Kosovska Mitrovica with five gunshot wounds in the upper region of his chest. Doctors there did everything they could to rescue him but to no avail.

Vucic convened an emergency meeting of Serbia’s Security Council in the wake of the assassination, and the head of the government office for Kosovo and Metohija, Marko Djuric said the Serb delegation was suspending technical dialogue with the Kosovo authorities in Brussels and returning to Belgrade.

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