June 7, 2014
The Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation welcomes the decision of the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime to bring charges against the suspects in Slavko Ćuruvija’s murder.
It is certain that shedding light on the circumstances of this murder, and those of Dada Vujasinovic and Milan Pantić, in particular the disclosure of the names and the motives of those who ordered these heinous crimes, would bring satisfaction to the families, friends and colleagues of the killed journalists, and allow for a better understanding of the dark coupling of politics and crime that led to them.
However, it is essential that, in addition to determining the facts about what happened, the government also do everything in its power to prevent such a thing from ever happening again.
In Serbia, journalism is still a high-risk profession. Four journalists have been living for years under police protection day and night, and many more begin and end their days in fear of threats addressed to them because they are doing their jobs in a fair and responsible manner.
Physical threats are only the tip of the iceberg; below the surface there are many, seemingly less dramatic but no less effective, means of exerting unauthorized influence on both journalists and the media, whose daily application results in direct, serious and permanent damage to the public interest.
The Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation strongly supports the ongoing work of the investigation of murders of journalists carried out by the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime and other relevant institutions in this field.
We believe that only through institution building, stable and independent of the political situation, is it possible to create a future that will be safer than the present – for journalists and for all the citizens of our country.
