Representatives of journalistic associations laid wreaths and lit candles at the site where Slavko Ćuruvija was killed 27 years ago.

Marko Somborac, Vice President of the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia, told reporters that 27 years after the murder of Ćuruvija, the killers have not been punished and that the defendants in the trial were acquitted.

"These individuals are also suing the Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation over the statement regarding that shameful verdict," Somborac said.

He added that now in Serbia, "organized hordes of criminals and murderers are chasing journalists who work in the public interest."

"All of this is happening either with tacit consent or direct complicity of state institutions," Somborac stated, adding that "journalists in critical media are being stifled by the dismissal of their editors."

He emphasized that "people in the media do not give up" and noted that disciplinary complaints have been filed against judges due to the verdict in the Ćuruvija case, which he called shameful.

Olivera Milošević, Vice President of the Journalists' Association of Serbia, pointed to "a disturbing phenomenon in our society, which is the impunity for the murders of journalists and attempts to normalize that impunity so that at some point this society calmly accepts that it is perfectly fine that we never find out who killed journalists or who ordered the murder."

She also recalled the cases of journalists Dada Vujasinović and Milan Pantić.

"We will not accept this, and we will fight for justice to eventually achieve some sort of epilogue," Milošević emphasized, adding that the anniversary of Slavko Ćuruvija's murder is marked "in an atmosphere that, by many accounts, is very similar to the atmosphere in which he suffered."

"That is why this is the ideal place to, with the solidarity of all of us here, send a message that this spiral of violent rhetoric must stop, which primarily originates from the top of the government and spreads through pro-regime media and social networks, as this is the path for another journalist's murder to occur, and we must not repeat the fate of Dada, Slavko, or Milan Pantić," she stated.

Veran Matić, President of the Board of the Association of Independent Electronic Media, said that "today we still have an attempt to murder a journalist" and mentioned the case of Lazar Dinić, as well as "the beating of female and male journalists with the intention of preventing them from reporting."

"Just as in 1998 and 1999 there was an idea to shut down Dnevni Telegraf, now N1 is that same target. As a community, we must stand not just behind them, but in front and protect them from what may happen next. After an attempt at murder, murder follows," Matić emphasized.

He assessed that solidarity with all attacked journalists and with the editorial teams of N1, Nova S, Danas, Radar, the Nova portal, and the newspaper Nova, which are currently targets, is crucial.

"If we do not protect them at this moment, the next targets will be those who remain, until this becomes a scorched earth situation regarding free media and free journalists," Matić stated.

Source: Fonet