Instead of Justice – New Shots Fired at Slavko Ćuruvija

In the year when indictments were brought against Ratko Romić, Milan Radonjić, Miroslav Kurak, and Radomir Marković, Serbia ranked at a record-high position on the Reporters Without Borders press freedom index. Despite constant obstruction, the accused were twice convicted in first-instance proceedings and sentenced to a total of 100 years in prison. However, the Appeals Chamber acquitted them, even though the Supreme Court of Serbia found that the ruling had been rendered with serious violations of the law.

This acquittal resembles an amnesty or pardon more than a judicial verdict.

It was followed by lawsuits filed by Radonjić, Romić, and Kurak against the Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation, as well as by a new wave of unpunished violence against women and men journalists. Today, the police not only fail to protect journalists as victims, but in some cases attack them themselves. Some of these assaults have even been characterized as attempted murders of journalists.

Instead of justice and punishment for the murder of Slavko Ćuruvija, we are once again living in a time of extreme violence against the media and journalists. Everything resembles the period from 1998 to 2000, when Ćuruvija was murdered, numerous media outlets destroyed, and journalists imprisoned — a time when the media sphere was dominated by then-Minister of Information Aleksandar Vučić, who today, wielding far greater and almost absolute power, seeks to completely silence free voices, with even greater violence and more devastating consequences.

Once again, the victims are the family members of the murdered Slavko Ćuruvija and the foundation that preserved not only the memory of his work and murder, but also the investigation itself through investigative journalism and support for the Commission for the Investigation of Murders of Journalists. Since the day of the murder, the Ćuruvija family has endured constant victimization and abuse, especially after his daughter and son established the foundation, supporting the development of professional journalism and fighting for media freedom and journalists’ rights.

It is absurd that 27 years after the murder, the Ćuruvija family, through the foundation bearing his name, is expected to pay more than one million dinars to individuals who were indicted, convicted in first-instance proceedings, and later acquitted despite serious violations of criminal procedure provisions in favor of the defendants, as stated by the Supreme Court of Serbia — allegedly for non-material damages due to “harm to honor and reputation.”

Judge Ljiljana Ilić disregarded the evidence and arguments presented by the Foundation. She conducted the proceedings while displaying an obvious lack of understanding of the circumstances and no willingness to familiarize herself with them. Instead of attempting to understand the arguments put forward by the representatives of the Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation, established by the victim’s children, the court devoted its full attention to the plaintiffs. This is clearly evident from the judgment itself. The judge based her decision on the Appeals Court ruling, which the Supreme Court had found to contain numerous legal violations in favor of the accused and previously convicted individuals, rather than relying on the legal positions of the Supreme Court.

The ruling reinforces the 27-year-old impression that the murder of Slavko Ćuruvija — a case that has become an international symbol of impunity for the murder of journalists — remains too dangerous to reopen.

The conviction of the Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation represents a serious attack on Slavko Ćuruvija’s legacy, embodied in the activities of the foundation established by his children.

The suppression of freedom of expression regarding the acquittal — which the Supreme Court itself found to have been rendered with serious procedural violations — continues through more than 20 lawsuits filed against lawyers, public figures, and university professors who publicly commented during and after the decade-long trial.

This case clearly illustrates the reasons behind Serbia’s collapse in the field of human rights and freedoms, as documented by the European Commission, the United Nations, the Council of Europe, and numerous respected international organizations. The “Ćuruvija” case exemplifies the extreme impunity surrounding the murders of journalists, the catastrophic functioning of institutions — especially the Appeals Court — as well as the abuse of SLAPP lawsuits intended to intimidate, financially exhaust, and deter journalists from reporting on matters of public interest. In addition, several individuals involved in investigating Slavko Ćuruvija’s murder were subjected to threats against their safety and lives, which were never investigated.

Reporters Without Borders ranked Serbia 54th in 2014, when the trial of those accused of murdering Ćuruvija began. During the years of Vučić’s rule, however, they have recorded a constant decline in media freedom and journalism, with Serbia now ranking at a record-low 104th place this year.

Through its monitoring of Serbia’s obligations under Chapter 23, the European Commission closely followed every detail related to resolving the murders of journalists. Through the Commission for the Investigation of Murders of Journalists, it regularly received detailed reports documenting the constant and systematic obstruction carried out by the state apparatus in this area.

A despotism in which the president pardons violent offenders who brutally beat and run over people, preemptively absolves ministers accused of criminal offenses, and protects those in power, is clearly prepared to punish its own citizens in order to remain in power and preserve the enormous wealth accumulated through systematic plunder.

Free and professional journalism remains, today as in the 1990s, of crucial importance so that the public can hear and see the facts about the crimes and abuses we face every day. That is why it is essential that we do everything possible to prevent new victims and actively oppose the war being waged by the authorities against independent and professional journalism.

The time has come for the ruling against the Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation to set off alarm bells everywhere.

Veran Matić,
President of the Managing Board of the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) and President of the Commission for the Investigation of Murders of Journalists

The project “Improving the System of Prevention and Response Mechanisms in Cases of Threats to the Safety and Lives of Women and Men Journalists in Serbia” is implemented by ANEM together with its partners Insider TV and the Center for the Development of Local Media, with the support of the European Union.