11. 04. 2014

SLAVKO ĆURUVIJA KILLED 15 YEARS AGO

11.4.2014 (Beta, RTV) - Journalist Slavko Ćuruvija was killed on 11 April, 15 years ago, and his murder has not been resolved to this day.

Journalist and owner of "Daily Telegraph" ("Dnevni telegraf") and "The European" ("Evropljanin") was killed on Easter day in 1999, in the passage of the building where he used to live in Svetogorska street. The killers shot him in the back with 17 bullets.

He was killed during NATO bombing, five days after he was accused in the daily "Politika Ekspres" of "wishing for the bombs" and "treason".

The anniversary of Slavko Ćuruvija's murder will today be marked by his colleagues, family and friends who will lay flowers on the spot where he was killed.

Suspects for Ćuruvija's murder, former employees of the State Security (DB) Ratko Romić i Milan Radonjić, were arrested in mid-January 2014, while a warrant was issued for the former operative Miroslav Kurak, who remains at large.

The Prosecutor's Office for Organised Crime identified Radonjić and former DB director Radomir Marković as those who ordered the murder, and Romić and Kurjak as executors.

Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation stated that there is still no answer to the question who ordered the murder, although suspected executors have been arrested.

"The issue of moral responsibility of those who participated in the government at the time of the murder of Slavko Ćuruvija has not been initiated either", said the press statement of the Foundation Slavko Ćuruvija.

In the statement on the occasion of 15 years since the murder of the journalist Slavko Ćuruvija, the foundation said that the freedom of speech and safety of journalists in Serbia are still under threat.

It is also stated that the murders of journalists Radislava Dada Vujasinović and Milan Pantić are still without epilogue in court.

"The values that Slavko Ćuruvija fought for, such as freedom of speech and the right of editors to freely edit their newspapers in accordance with the professional standards and by the law, have not been reached yet", the statement said.

Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation is of opinion that the state must take decisive measures in order to secure freedom of the media and create a climate where journalists can do their work according to the highest professional standards.

"It is necessary to free media from governmental pressures, which directly or indirectly continue to influence editorial policy of media outlets", the statement of the Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation said.