In Jagodina, June 11 marks the 24th anniversary of the murder of Milan Pantić.
The anniversary of the murder of the "Večernje novosti" correspondent from Jagodina, Milan Pantić, will be commemorated tomorrow, June 11th. A memorial service at the City Cemetery in Jagodina will take place at 11 AM, followed by the laying of flowers and wreaths and paying tribute in front of the bust of Milan Pantić in the square of the same name, as well as at the entrance to the building where he was killed 24 years ago.
The "Milan Pantić" Award for Journalistic Courage will be presented at the National Library "Radislav Nikčević" in Jagodina at 12 PM.
As a reminder, the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime has not accepted jurisdiction over the investigation into the murder of Milan Pantić, for which there has been no judicial progress for nearly 24 years. Last year, the case was returned to the Jagodina Prosecutor's Office, effectively starting from scratch.
The Association of Journalists of Serbia (UNS) received a response from this Prosecutor's Office in February 2024, stating that there is no legal basis for establishing their jurisdiction.
The documentation regarding the murder of Jagodina journalist and correspondent for "Večernje novosti," Milan Pantić, collected in the files of the Jagodina Prosecutor's Office, was held by the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime for 16 months.
Thus, for the second time, the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime declared itself incompetent.
This was first established in mid-2020 when it was "determined that, for now, there are no legal grounds prescribed by the Law on the Organization and Jurisdiction of State Authorities in Combating Organized Crime, Terrorism, and Corruption for this Prosecutor's Office to act."
At the initiative of UNS, the International Federation of Journalists adopted a Resolution on Milan Pantić in June 2022.
The resolution called for an effective judicial process and the engagement of the Serbian Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime to identify and punish the masterminds and murderers of journalist Milan Pantić after more than two decades.
The President of the Commission for the Investigation of Journalist Murders, Veran Matić, wrote in June 2022 that "five years ago, the Commission completed the majority of the work related to the murder of the correspondent for 'Večernje novosti' from Jagodina."
Matić stated that the police have clarified the murder.
"There are names of people who committed the murder and who are involved in contract killings. However, it is very difficult to prove because the crime scene was poorly processed and contaminated after the murder. The working group for the investigation of journalist murders has been insisting for years that the Special Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime take over the case, as they have greater maneuvering space since this is a true organized crime case linked to a specific privatization from the time of Pantić's liquidation," said Matić.
Milan Pantić was a well-known journalist from Jagodina who wrote articles about controversial privatizations, particularly concerning the Novi Popovac cement factory and the Jagodina Brewery.
Milan Pantić was murdered on June 11, 2001, at the entrance of the building where he lived with his family, just a few steps from his apartment. He was returning from the store, holding a bag with a loaf of bread, when he was attacked and killed by blows to the head.
Source: UNS
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