11. 04. 2014

STEP TOWARDS PUNISHING PERPETRATORS

The state has made an important step - the mechanism has been started and now there is no turning back. Either we will very soon find out the names of those who ordered the crime and the murderers or we will once more witness that Serbia is a society in which criminals are stronger than victims, said Vukašin Obradović, president of the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia.

According to Obradović, marking the day of Ćuruvija's murder is every time a meeting with "ghosts of the past and the time when a shadow of death hovered over everyone who thought and wrote differently".

It seems to me that today for the first time, after 15 years, we come here with the hope that the moment is not far away when we will finally find out who killed Ćuruvija and ordered his killing, said Obradović.

Ljiljana Smajlović, president of the Journalists' Association of Serbia, said that we are today a step closer to the proof that deep inside the state apparatus there was a criminal organization that killed Ćuruvija and other political opponents.

If it is proven, said Smajlović, that these are the people who killed Ćuruvija, it seems to me that we are merely at the beginning and that that will cause an earthquake the consequences and lessons of which we will yet have to discuss. In any case, I hope it will happen this year already, said Smajlović.

Veran Matić, president of the Commission that is active on solving the murders of journalists, said that he expects the charges to be pressed within six months, which is a legal deadline, or even earlier. He said that the Prosecutor's Office is working intensely and that suspects were detained and many witnesses' statements were heard.

The purpose of the work of the Commission and investigation authorities, Matić said, is to identify the executors, and maximum efforts will be put in identifying those who ordered the crime, as well, because justice demands so.

Matić stressed that it is very important that Foundation Slavko Ćuruvija was established, that it is talked about Ćuruvija case more than ever and than more people than ever take part in providing new information.

Talking about the murder of journalist Milan Pantić, Matić said that the work on solving this case is intense. He said that witnesses' statements are being collected and that he believes that the investigation is going in the good direction.

As for the case of Dada Vujasinović, the case had to be reopened because there were contradictions among the findings of several expert investigations that were done.

According to Matić, a credible institution for expert investigation was found that everyone will trust and documentation is being translated so as to be delivered to this institute in the Hague.

The investigation is also ongoing regarding the case of murders of colleagues from Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) during NATO bombing, said Matić and added that stabilization of certain staffing issues is awaited at the Military Security Agency after recent changes, after which documentation will be requested again.

Branka Prpa, who was with Ćuruvija at the moment of his killing, said to the press that "she does not know if we are a step away from pressing charges" and added "that she is not much of an optimist, but it is obvious that the Prosecutor's Office finally does it job", after 15 years.

Whether enough material has been collected for pressing charges is yet to be seen, said Prpa.

Asked what she expects, considering the circumstances and the political situation all these years, Prpa said that she does not think the political situation is great when it comes to the context of this murder, but that she is not interested in the political situation, rather in the strength of institutions of a state ruled by law.

I think that each of us in interested in that. I expect the institutions of the state ruled by law to be developed, said Prpa.

Saša Janković, The Ombudsman, Rodoljub Šabić, Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection, and Dragan Đilas, president of the Democratic Party, were also present at the marking of the 15th anniversary of Ćuruvija's murder.