November 30, 2018
President of the Commission for the Investigation of Murders of Journalists, Veran Matić, has again expressed doubt over whether the goal of the court case for the murder of journalist Slavko Ćuruvija is to confirm the truth about that event.
Matić considers that there are many moves in this court procedure that suggest the acquittal of the accused, and that due to this reason, but also due to violations of the provisions of the Criminal Code, the trial chamber should seek its own withdrawal.
The Higher Court of Belgrade, whose Special Department for Organised Crime is trying those accused of the murder of Slavko Ćuruvija, announced that Matić was exerting pressure on the judges. This court, as well as the recently formed Association of Judges and Prosecutors, which is closely connected to the government, also responded to media references to the names of the judges trying the Ćuruvija murder case, because that “threatens the independence and independent action of the courts”.
The media reported that the same trial chamber for this case also tried the case in which the first instance verdict saw the acquittal of alleged criminal gang boss Luka Bojović, but that the Supreme Court of Cassation, the highest court in Serbia, recently found that those judges broke the law in making this judgement.
Investigative reporting portal KRIK also announced that the same judges made controversial judgements in several other cases that had attracted a lot of public attention.
