Popovic: Even after six years, it is not known who killed Oliver, but I am sure the truth cannot remain hidden

Milena Popovic, the widow of Oliver Ivanovic, stated today that even after six years, no one knew why he had been killed, that there had been no progress in the investigation, but that she was absolutely sure that the truth about the masterminds and killers would be revealed one day.

"Unfortunately, even after six years, neither I nor anyone else has an answer to why Oliver was killed, but, as I have said a thousand times before, I repeat today in this place that I am absolutely sure that we will come to the truth one day and find out who took Oliver's life on January 16," Popovic said in a statement to journalists after the memorial service at St. Sava Temple marking six years since the murder.

She noted that even after so much time, the investigation into who committed the crime is at a standstill.

"The investigation is at a standstill, maybe even regressing as time goes on. I thought that on the day Oliver was killed, within an hour, a day, or at most a month, we would get to the names of Oliver's killers. However, time has proven me wrong, and six years later, we have a sloppy indictment that has changed several times. It has been amended three or four times, some names are mentioned, but absolutely nothing concrete and nothing that exclusively interests us, which is who the killers are and, above all, the masterminds," Popovic said.

She cannot assert whether there is obstruction in the investigation, but it is obvious that "something is not going as it should."

"It is simply incomprehensible that, after six years, we cannot get to the names of the masterminds. I believe in the state of Serbia the most, but they are, in a way, limited because they do not have cooperation from the Albanian side. We have an investigation that has been going on for six years and will, I'm afraid, last who knows how many more years. But, as I said, everyone should know that the truth cannot be hidden, and I am absolutely sure that one day we will find out who killed Oliver," Popovic is convinced.

Speaking about the abuse of Ivanovic's murder for political purposes, she said that it has been happening year after year.

"It is absolutely being abused. Here, today, we have the most obvious example of that. I marked the anniversary of his death peacefully and quietly with my son. Any reminder of this tragedy that is outside the church and the cemetery today is an abuse of the death of one man and the tragedy of one family," Popovic said.

Oliver Ivanovic, the leader of the Civic Initiative "Freedom, Democracy, Justice," was killed with six shots in the back in North Mitrovica on January 16, 2018, and was buried in the Alley of Distinguished Citizens in Belgrade on January 18.

A memorial service was held at the St. Sava Temple in Belgrade today in his memory, attended by family members and representatives of the Serbian state leadership – Prime Minister in technical mandate Ana Brnabic, Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia and Minister of Defense in technical mandate Milos Vucevic, as well as the Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Petar Petkovic.