4 Serbs in Kosovo jailed in the killing of a moderate Serb politician in 2018

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — A Kosovo court has sentenced four ethnic Serbs to four to 10 years in jail for the killing of a moderate Serb leader. The Pristina court ruled that the defendants were part of an organized crime ring and had targeted the victim because of his moderate politics. The defendants were not present when the verdict was read. Five other defendants remain at large. Oliver Ivanovic was gunned down in front of his party office headquarters in the Serb-dominated northern part of the Kosovo town of Mitrovica in 2018. He was a key politician in northern Kosovo and was critical of the Serb influence in Kosovo’s Serb minority. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but Belgrade refuses to recognize it.