March 1, 2020
At the end of March, almost a year after defendants were convicted and sentenced for the murder of Slavko Ćuruvija, journalist and publisher of newspaper Dnevni telegraf [Daily Telegraph] and magazine Evropljanin [The European], the Belgrade Court of Appeal will hold a session at which appeals against the first instance verdict will be presented.
The four-day session is scheduled to begin on 30th March and will consider appeals against the verdict that saw four members of the National Security Service sentenced to a total of 100 years for the 11th April 1999 murder of Ćuruvija. The appeal was filed by three of the four defendants, all of their defense attorneys and the prosecution.
According to the first-instance verdict handed down on 5th April last year, former State Security chief Radomir Marković was sentenced to 30 years in prison for inciting the murder of Ćuruvija, while convictions as co-perpetrators who prepared the ground for the murder of the journalist were confirmed for the then head of Belgrade’s State Security Centre, Milan Radonjić, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison, and Miroslav Kurak, a member of the State Security Service’s reserve unit, and Ratko Romic, a State Security Service operative, who were each sentenced to serve 20 years.
The Court of Appeal may confirm the verdict, overturn it, or quash it and order a retrial.
