Daily names suspected killers of journalist

BELGRADE The daily Blic is reporting that the indictment of the Special Prosecutor concerning the April 1999 murder of Slavko Curuvija "has been written." In the coming days it will be made public, said the newspaper in an article published on Monday. Daily names suspected killers of journalist According to this, Radomir Markovic, a former chief of the State Security (RDB), is charged with ordering the murder of the journalist and publisher, and Milan Radonjic as then head of the Belgrade Center of the DB, organized the crime. The prosecution established that Ratko Romic, at that time an operative of the Belgrade Center, was an accomplice in the murder. As the direct killer the prosecutor marked Miroslav Kurak, a member of a special security service of the DB, writes Blic. Of these four only Kurak is currently unavailable to the police, and is on an international Interpol arrest warrant. The other three are already in jail. "The investigation will not stop with these four names. It will be determined who else from the DB participated in the murder of Curuvija. It will first be examined whether Stevan Basta, the deputy head of the second division of the Center in Belgrade, took part, and then it will be the turn of Veselin Lecic, at the time the deputy head of the center and right hand of Milan Radonjic," the newspaper quoted a source as saying. Further investigation will continue gathering evidence regarding weather the murder came on the orders of Mirjana Markovic, then president of the JUL party and wife of Slobodan Milosevic, writes Blic. Of the latest evidence, the testimony of a former official of the DB who discovered the role of the four suspects is significant, said the daily. B92 learned previously that it can be expected that within the next week the suspects in the murder of Slavko Curuvija - those who ordered the killing - will be arrested. Veran Matic, president of the Commission for Investigation of Murders of Journalists, said that a lot of evidence for the charges against the perpetrators had been collected, including concerning those who gave the order. "I think we are approaching a big day when it comes to journalism in Serbia and in the case of justice for those innocent victims, and their families, but also for our entire profession. It is important for the state, too, to show that it has a kind of determination to deal with its bad past," added Matic. He stressed the importance of the media coverage of this case in continuity, because this in a way put pressure on institutions, but that this was done at full capacity only with the formation of the commission. The move primarily put pressure on the Ministry of Interior, the BIA and the prosecution, as well as on politicians. Slavko Curuvija (file) B92 Blic

Daily names suspected killers of journalist

According to this, Radomir Marković, a former chief of the State Security (RDB), is charged with ordering the murder of the journalist and publisher, and Milan Radonjić as then head of the Belgrade Center of the DB, organized the crime.

The prosecution established that Ratko Romić, at that time an operative of the Belgrade Center, was an accomplice in the murder. As the direct killer the prosecutor marked Miroslav Kurak, a member of a special security service of the DB, writes Blic.

Of these four only Kurak is currently unavailable to the police, and is on an international Interpol arrest warrant. The other three are already in jail.

"The investigation will not stop with these four names. It will be determined who else from the DB participated in the murder of Ćuruvija. It will first be examined whether Stevan Basta, the deputy head of the second division of the Center in Belgrade, took part, and then it will be the turn of Veselin Lečić, at the time the deputy head of the center and right hand of Milan Radonjić," the newspaper quoted a source as saying.

Further investigation will continue gathering evidence regarding weather the murder came on the orders of Mirjana Marković, then president of the JUL party and wife of Slobodan Milošević, writes Blic.

Of the latest evidence, the testimony of a former official of the DB who discovered the role of the four suspects is significant, said the daily.

B92 learned previously that it can be expected that within the next week the suspects in the murder of Slavko Ćuruvija - those who ordered the killing - will be arrested.

Veran Matić, president of the Commission for Investigation of Murders of Journalists, said that a lot of evidence for the charges against the perpetrators had been collected, including concerning those who gave the order.

"I think we are approaching a big day when it comes to journalism in Serbia and in the case of justice for those innocent victims, and their families, but also for our entire profession. It is important for the state, too, to show that it has a kind of determination to deal with its bad past," added Matić.

He stressed the importance of the media coverage of this case in continuity, because this in a way put pressure on institutions, but that this was done at full capacity only with the formation of the commission.

The move primarily put pressure on the Ministry of Interior, the BIA and the prosecution, as well as on politicians.