09. 04. 2013

EVIDENCE FOUND IN MURDER CASE

Belgrade, April 9, 2013 (B92) - The Commission for investigating murders of journalists has found evidence in the case of the murder of Dada Vujasinovic, allegedly lost since 1999.

In the case of Dada Vujasinovic, the evidence taken on the murder scene that were allegedly lost during the moving of documentation during air raids in 1999 have been found. They will enable a super expertise.

The Commission decided to engage foreign experts for ballistics and forensics, and currently we are in the process of establishing communication with the Security Institute in Wiesbaden regarding this issue. Based on those data, super expertise will be conducted through the reconstruction of the murder and all other necessary actions from the field of criminal investigation.

The case of the murder of Slavko Curuvija is the most extensive when it comes to the gathered documents, testimonies, evidence and statements, while entire documentation consists of more than 2000 pages. All those persons who could help with their testimonies, either as protected witnesses or witnesses that were not directly involved in the murders, but need protection as there are chances that they know facts that would be relevant for ascertaining the identities of the killers, have been registered.

The Commission will propose to the Prosecutor's office for organized crime to launch the process in the course of which protection would be offered to all those persons if they agree to present key information that would lead to identifying the killers and those who ordered killings, that would in turn contribute to the successful court epilogue of this process.

In case of the murder of Milan Pantic, new investigation is underway as a priority assignment of the investigative bodies from Jagodina, now with the strong support of the headquarters of the Criminal Investigation Department and the team consisting of investigators and analysts engaged on all the cases that the Commission is dealing with. The statements of the persons that approached the Commission on their own initiative with the aim to present their findings are being extensively checked.

The case of the killing of RTS media workers during the air raids was subsequently added to the mandate of the Commission on the proposal of the victims' families, and in the forthcoming period, we will set goals and basic elements for the renewal of this investigation.

The Commission remindend that journalistic profession was under constant pressure, journalists and media exposed to immediate threats and financial exhaustion, lawsuits and high penalties and compensation of damages

"The media are being threatened in many ways, in order to disrupt their investigative journalism, jeopardizing their safety to prevent them from comprehensive addressing of the most difficult social issues. Impoverishment of the society, along with its media, contributed to the media and journalists being more vulnerable than ever", it was stated in the report.