Oliver Ivanovic (1 April 1953 – 16 January 2018) was State Secretary of the Ministry for Kosovo and Metohija from 2008 to 2012, serving as a member of the Social Democratic Party of Serbia and the Serb List of Kosovo.
Biography[]
Oliver Ivanovic was born in Rznic, SAP Kosovo, Yugoslavia in 1953 to a family of Serbs, and he studied at the University of Pristina. From 1991 to 1998, he was head of the sports center in Kosovska Mitrovica, directed the Feronikl nickel mine company in Glogovak from 1998 to 2004, and served as President of the Serbian National Council of North Kosovo and Metohija during the Kosovo War. After the war, he became involved with Serbian politics as a member of the Social Democratic Party of Serbia and the Serb List of Kosovo, and he served as State Secretary of the Ministry for Kosovo and Metohija from 2008 to 2012. In January 2014, he was arrested on suspicion of war crimes and sentenced to nine years in jail on 21 January 2016, but the guilty verdict was annulled on 12 February 2017, and a new trial was ordered. However, Kosovar vigilantes (armed with Zastava M70A pistols) assassinated Ivanovic in a drive-by shooting as he entered his North Mitrovica office.