September 30, 2024
The trial of Stevan Dojčinović, editor-in-chief of investigative journalism portal KRIK, and journalist Bojana Pavlović, who are both being sued by Court of Appeal judge Dušanka Đorđević and her husband Aleksandar Đorđević, was held in a courtroom packed with journalists and representatives of seven embassies, the European Union and media organisations.
This is the first time in Serbia that a judge has sued journalists and is seeking a 10-month prison sentence for each of them, as well as a ban on practicing journalism.
The lawsuit was filed in response to KRIK’s publishing of a database on the work of judges in Serbia. Đorđević, who is among the judges included in the database, is known for being a member of the judicial panel responsible for acquitting those accused of murdering journalist Slavko Ćuruvija.
The database lists only basic information on judges, without comments, on the basis of information already available to the public. In the case of this Court of Appeal judge, her husband, Aleksandar Đorđević, was only mentioned as the owner of properties that they share. He is otherwise a lawyer who spent a long time working for the Serbian Secret Service, whose officials were acquitted for Ćuruvija’s murder.
The plaintiffs’ legal representatives consider that KRIK didn’t have permission to publish data about them, regardless of the fact that such data were already available to the public, and that their privacy was thus violated and they were placed in danger. Interestingly, the couple own five apartments and other real estate, though KRIK did not publish the addresses. There is also no claim that these properties were purchased with funds amassed by dealing in crime or corruption, but the prosecutors state that this is KRIK’s essential claim.
The lawsuit also states that KRIK editor (international award-winning investigative journalist) Stevan Dojčinović is a “dangerous individual”, citing the fact that he has been banned from entering Russia as evidence. This claim is true, though it came as a consequence of his cooperation with international organisation OCCRP, which investigates crime and corruption in that country.
The lawyer of the accused journalists said that KRIK didn’t commit a criminal offense and published information available publicly in accordance with the Law on Public Information, the Journalists’ Code of Ethics and the standards of the European Court of Human Rights.
