Based on the court verdict, the Slavko Ćuruvija foundation is obliged to pay more than one million dinars due to the announcement expressing dissatisfaction with the decision of the Court of Appeal on the acquittal of 3 people for the murder of the journalist Slavko Ćuruvija
Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation, on the basis of the first-instance verdict of the Second Basic Court in Belgrade, is obliged to pay 200.000 dinars each to three former members of the Department of State Security (RDB), Miroslav Kurak, Ratko Romić and Milan Radonjić, for damage to reputation and honor, and an additional 435.000 dinars in court costs.
In 2024, Kurak, Romić and Radonjić sued the Foundation for the statement “A country that does not punish murderers has no future”, in which they expressed dissatisfaction with the decision of the Court of Appeal to release them murder of a journalist April 11, 1999.
After nine years of court proceedings and two first-instance verdicts in which Kurak, Romić and Radonjić, together with the former head of the RDB, Radomir Marković, were sentenced to a total of 100 years in prison, the Court of Appeal issued a verdict acquitting them due to lack of evidence.
The court judged that the announcement, with which the Foundation reacted to that decision, was insulting. That the honor and reputation of the plaintiffs were injured by it, and due to the non-material damage of “mental pain” she awarded compensation.
The Slavko Ćuruvi Foundation will file an appeal against the court’s decision.
The Foundation’s announcement adds that the sentence is unusual for domestic court practice, as well as that the entire procedure represents additional pressure on the victims and freedom of expression.
Source: Vreme
