The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary strongly condemns the assassination of Dimitrije Janićijević, an ethnic Serb politician in the town of Mitrovica in Kosovo, and expresses its sympathy to the victim's family. Janićijević, who ran for mayor of Kosovska Mitrovica late last year, was gunned down in front of his home shortly after midnight on January 16.

It is unacceptable that an attack on a democratically elected local representative should endanger the results of the recent municipal election and arouse fear among the local population in northern Mitrovica. Any violent act against the representatives and public servants of the local governments with Serbian majority in northern Kosovo threatens the success of the settlement between Serbia and Kosovo, and so are incompatible with European norms.

Hungary, along with other EU member states, continues to support efforts to consolidate democratic institutions in Kosovo and hopes that the perpetrators will be called to account soon.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs)