November 1, 2018.
The presenting of closing arguments in the trial for the murder of journalist and publisher Slavko Ćuruvija, which has last nearly three and a half years, could start by the end of this month, according to an announcement by trial chamber president Snežana Jovanović.
Ćuruvija was murdered in 1999, though the trial of four members of the secret service accused of organising and carrying out the killing only began in June 2015.
The next two hearings are planned to be held in late November, while another should take place in early December. However, uncertainty remains as to whether these hearings will see the start of the presenting of closing remarks. It is possible that participants in the proceedings will submit new proposals to which the court would have to declare its response, while the prosecutor is expected to appeal to the Appellate Court in response to the rejection of certain pieces of evidence proposed by the prosecution.
Among them is a proposal to call for the witness testimony of police inspector Dragan Kecman, who deserves the most credit for collecting the most important evidence in this case. The Court, however, not only refused to accept his testimony, but also – at the request of the defence – rejected Kecman’s testimony provided during the investigation.
On the other side, the court also rejected without explanation the defence team’s request to call as witnesses current and former Serbian presidents Aleksandar Vučić and Tomislav Nikolić, as well as former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia president Zoran Lilić.
