People initially convicted and then acquitted for the murder of journalist Slavko Ćuruvija are suing the foundation founded by the deceased journalist’s children for injury to reputation and honor.
Trial To the “Slavko Ćuruvija” Foundation according to the lawsuit of three former members of the State Security, initially convicted and then acquitted of murder that journalist, it started on Friday, March 6 in the Second Basic Court in Belgrade.
Ratko Romić, Milan Radonjić and Miroslav Kurak sued the “Slavko Ćuruvija” Foundation for damage to reputation and honor due to damage to honor, and after the Foundation’s comments that they were dissatisfied with the acquittal.
Romić, Radonjić and Kurak are each seeking half a million dinars in compensation. Kurak appeared in court for the first time, because while the trial was going on he was on the run.
All three pleaded before the court that they and their families suffered severe pain because they were called murderers in public, even after the acquittal.
Ignored decision of the Supreme Court
The representative of the “Slavko Ćuruvija” Foundation, Kruna Savović, reminded that after the lawsuit was filed, the decision of the Supreme Court arrived that the decision of the Court of Appeal did not take into account key evidence in the criminal proceedings.
The Supreme Court of Serbia unanimously determined, in the decision on the request for the protection of legality, published in January, that the acquittal verdict was passed with a significant violation of the law in favor of the defendants.
“The decision of the Supreme Court has no consequences for the finality of the acquittal of the Court of Appeal, and the lawsuit by Radonjić, Romić and Kurak represents a strategic lawsuit against public participation, the goal of which is to intimidate and stifle freedom of speech, as well as financial exhaustion of the Foundation,” the “Slavko Ćuruvija” Foundation announced at the time.
President of the Board of Directors of the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) Veran Matić pointed out on this occasion that from the moment the lawsuit was filed, “it is quite painful to follow the twists and turns in this case”.
“Instead of finding and convicting the killers of Slavko Ćuruvija, the Foundation founded by his children is being tried. We have come to such a situation because of the judiciary, which has completely changed its structure in the past few years,” Matić told N1.
He reminded that previously two verdicts of 100 years in prison were passed for the four defendants, which were overturned at the Court of Appeal due to a lack of evidence, and not because their innocence was established.
“Now the Supreme Court has established what we have constantly claimed – that the Appellate Chamber prepared a lack of evidence, because it opened the evidentiary proceedings for the report on the movement of members of the state security on murders Slavka Ćuruvije. “On the other hand, the minutes used from the trial where the key witnesses confirmed their testimonies were completely falsified, while the appeal falsifies that information and says that they did not stick to the given statements,” said Matić.
A captive state does not punish crimes
Immediately after the lawsuit was filed in June 2024, the executive director of the “Slavko Ćuruvija” foundation, Ivana Stevanović, assessed that the lawsuit was a consequence of the atmosphere in society created by the government.
“A captive state does not solve or punish crimes committed on its account and in its name. Violence and crime are glorified and encouraged, and criminals are celebrated as heroes. Any kind of criticism of the government’s current and past sins is most brutally suppressed,” she stated at the time.
“The Slavko Ćuruvi Foundation will continue to cherish the memory of journalists whose name it bears, but also to insist on punishing all attacks on journalists. First with the acquittal, and now with the intimidation of lawsuits, such attacks are encouraged. We do not agree to that,” the Foundation announced at the time.
At the beginning of February 2024, the Court of Appeal in Belgrade acquitted four former members of the State Security of the charges of participation in the murder of Ćuruvija in 1999.
The court, by accepting the appeals of the defense and partially accepting the appeal of the Prosecutor’s Office, changed the first-instance verdict and acquitted the defendant Radomir Marković of having committed the criminal offense of aggravated murder in incitement, and the defendants Milan Radonjić, Miroslav Kurak and Ratko Romić of having, as co-perpetrators, committed a criminal offense aggravated murder.
At the time, it was announced on the court’s website that “there is no direct or indirect evidence that would reliably confirm that Marković, Radonjić, Kurak and Romić are the perpetrators of this criminal act”, and there is no right of appeal against that decision.
Media preparation of the murder
Slavko Ćuruvija was killed in April 1999, on Orthodox Easter, during NATO bombing. Radomir Marković, Milan Radonjić, Ratko Romić and Miroslav Kurak were sentenced to 100 years in prison in the first instance.
Ćuruvija’s murder was preceded by media preparation. Five days before the murder, in the daily newspaper, now defunct “Politica Ekspres”, an article titled “Ćuruvija met the bombs” was published, signed by the editor-in-chief of that newspaper at the time, Đorđe Martić.
In the text, Ćuruvija was labeled as a traitor who supports the bombing of Serbia, and Slobodan Milošević’s regime was not satisfied that the text was published in a daily newspaper, so the text was read in the Second Daily of RTS.
During the trial, Martić said that he received the order to write that text from the then director and editor-in-chief of “Politika” Hadži Dragan Antic, who was one of the closest friends of the Milošević family.
The media lynching on the eve of the crime did not take Ćuruvi seriously, so in those days, probably partly out of spite, he walked through the busiest streets of Belgrade.
The day before the murder, as journalist Dušan Mašić described in his book “Serbian Ripples”, he met Ćuruvia in Knez Mihajlova.
“When I asked him what he was doing he said ‘I’m axing them’. He took out a small ax from under his leather jacket. I thought ‘He’s completely out of his mind’. We exchanged a few sentences and parted ways. Each with his own worries. 24 hours later, they’re going to be waiting for him in the front entrance and kill him.”
State security closely followed Ćuruvia right before the execution so that the killers would have a “pure target”, and then they did everything to cover up traces, destroy evidence, direct the investigation in another direction, intimidate witnesses, compromise or even try to kill those who had the courage to bring the masterminds and killers to justice.
Source: Vreme
