Jovanovic: Kurti did not want to leave the prison in Nis, they took him out

Liberal Democratic Party President Cedomir Jovanovic revealed how he literally begged the current Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti to get out of prison in Nis in 2001 after the president at the time, Vojislav Kostunica, signed his release, after two and a half years of serving a sentence of 15 years, Kurir reports.

"He was not released from prison at the time, he was taken from prison. Everyone is now criticizing Kostunica's decision to release him, but as much as they are against that decision, Kurti himself was against it. Believe it or not, the warden of the prison called me then to tell me that he didn't know what to do because Kurti won't get out of prison, so I went and talked to him. He told me: 'I don't recognize Yugoslavia, I don't recognize the decisions of its president. Did you sentence me to 15 years? I will sit here for 15 years.' I told him hey, Albin, man, it's pointless, everyone left. They took him out of prison. All in all, he shouldn't have been in prison," Jovanovic said.

Jovanovic also refers to the fact that Kostunica is now one of the signatories of the petition against the European proposal for the Kosovo issue.

"It's easy for Kostunica to stay silent and sign petitions of the Serbian Movement "Dveri" here in Belgrade from some log cabin, where he supposedly lives without electricity. Voja, I apologize but do something then. You were the president of this country, go ahead and do something. Go, find someone who will support that idea of yours. But he can't, just like all those who signed it," Jovanovic believes.

Jovanovic also commented on the statement of Social Democratic Party leader and former President of Serbia Boris Tadic that what was offered to Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic by the European plan was less than what was offered to him in 2011.

"I called Tadic after that statement, and I told him, Boris, you'd better kill yourself after what you said than do anything else. And he told me that he disagreed with that plan and that Vucic led to that himself, etc. There is a lot there that I can understand, but the essence is in the following: in 2011, when he did it, when he refused, I said don't, Boris, I know it's hard, but it won't be easier tomorrow. He said: 'You know very well the position we were in then. Do you know that I could say what I wanted but couldn't do what I wanted? That I was a president with no country behind me with consolidated institutions and rational people. Vucic and Toma would have crucified me first and burned me at Terazije Square if I had told Angela Merkel, 'okay, we will withdraw the Serbian institutions from Kosovo.' You know that they overthrew me in 2012 because they concluded that democratic forces could not bring that change in the Balkans, but that they all come from the right-wing, which has redefined itself,'" Jovanovic recounted the conversation.