Twenty-one years ago, Serbia's famous journalist was killed during NATO bombing

NE KORISTITI bg-curuvija timeline-mnd(20190411-124359986).mxf.00_04_51_24.Still001 — NE KORISTITI Fondacija Slavko Ćuruvija | NE KORISTITI Fondacija Slavko Ćuruvija

On April 11, 1999, during the NATO bombing of the then Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, consisting of Serbia with Kosovo's as its province and Montenegro, Slavko Curuvija, a famous journalist and publisher was gunned down outside his home with several hits in the back, while his partner was hit in the head with the gun barrel.

Oglas

The first instance verdict for Curuvija's murder against four top officials of the then State Security Service (DB) was brought 18 years after the killing, following the four-year-long procedure, on April 5, 2019.

One was tried in absentia and is still at large. They were sentenced to a total of 100 years in prison.

The Association of Serbia's Journalists (UNS) demanded on Saturday that the Appellant Court finally confirm the first instance verdict and that the fourth convicted was found and arrested as soon as possible.

UNS added the first instance verdict was a significant act which should mark the end of the impunity for the crimes against Serbia's journalists, but warned that the justice would not be served as long as the masterminds and the executor remained unknown.

Curuvija was killed soon after a pro-Government daily at the time published an editorial titled 'Curuvija welcomes bombs.'

The investigation showed he was under DB surveillance and that agents in charge were withdrawn from duty ahead of the murder.

Before the killing, the daily and weekly he published were severely fined under the Law on Information when the respective Minister was current Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic, then a high ranking official of the ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party (SRS).

The Party's leader Vojislav Seselj was convicted of 1990s war crimes by The Hague Court and sentenced to 10-year imprisonment which he spent in detention. He is now an SRS member of Serbia's Parliament.

According to the data UNS collected, 39 journalists and other media people working with Serbia's outlets were either killed or kidnapped or disappeared between 1991 and 2001.

NATO launched the 1999 intervention dubbed 'The Angel of Mercy' to stop what it said was Belgrade's repression over Kosovo Albanians.

The bombing lasted 78 days, from March 24 to June 10, and ended with an agreement which led to a complete withdrawal of Serbia's army and police from the then province.

Teme