The 4 convicts for the murder of the Serbian journalist 25 years ago are released

2024-02-02 18:26:09, Kosova & Bota CNA

The 4 convicts for the murder of the Serbian journalist 25 years ago are

The Court of Appeal in Belgrade on Friday announced the release of four former members of the Serbian state security, convicted for the murder of Serbian journalist Slavko ?uruvija in 1999, who had become known for his criticism of the regime of former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic. .

The former head of the State Security Service of Serbia, Radomir Markovic, and the officer of this service, Milan Radonjic, were sentenced in 2019 to 30 years in prison, while secret service agents, Ratko Romic and Miroslav Kurak, were sentenced to 20 years in prison. freedom.

The Court of Appeal in Belgrade said that it "changed the verdict of the first instance", underlining that "during the procedure, the existence of an organized criminal group was not established, nor was it established who, when and where, as stated in the indictment , participated in making the agreement and plan to take the life of the owner, director and editor-in-chief of the daily "Dnevni telegraf" and the weekly "Evropljanin" Slavko ?uruvija, and no evidence has been presented in support of the prosecution's claims, that such an order was given by an unknown person 'from the highest government structures'".

Slavko Çuruvija was killed on April 11, 1999, a few days after the beginning of the NATO bombing campaign against Serbian forces, to end the atrocities on the Kosovo Albanians.

He was a harsh critic of the former Serbian leader, and members of the close circle of Slobodan Milosevic, who died in 2006 in The Hague, while he was being tried for war crimes and genocide in the former Yugoslavia, were blamed for his murder. including Kosovo.

The foundation named after the murdered journalist expressed "shock" with the decision of the Court of Appeal.

"A country that does not punish murderers has no future. With this decision, the rule of law was called into question in Serbia, democratic processes were stopped and freedom of speech was suspended. The country joins the darkest countries where it is possible to kill with impunity because of publicly expressed criticism", it is said, among other things, in the reaction of this foundation.

The Chairman of the Commission for the Investigation of the Murders of Journalists, Veran Mati?, told the Serbian-language service of the Voice of America that "today is a very sad day when it comes to the impunity of the murders of journalists in Serbia, Europe and the world". VOA