May 31, 2024
Dušanka Đorđević, a judge of the Court of Appeal in Belgrade, has filed two lawsuits against journalists and editors of the independent Crime and Corruption Reporting Network KRIK over a database that has published information about the work of judges, including her.
The lawsuits that she filed, together with her husband, over an alleged violation of their right to privacy seek, in addition to compensation, a two-year ban on the work of KRIK journalists and 10-month prison sentences.
Judge Đorđević claims in the lawsuits that KRIK’s journalists are “outlining a target” of her and helping criminals to find her.
KRIK considers this unprecedented pressure on the work of the media that represents an attempt to ban journalists from reporting on the work and integrity of judges.
While the Serbian media are targeted with lawsuits for this activity, the publication of property ownership lists of holders of judicial positions is mandatory practice in some European countries, which is why they are available online in Croatia.
Judge Đorđević is known for being a member of the judicial panel that acquitted the accused former members of the State Security Service over the murder of journalist Slavko Ćuruvija.
KRIK is a well-known investigative reporting centre that writes about corruption and crime at the top of the Serbian government. It is a member of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and the Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN).
