Commission head vows to find journalists' killers

JAGODINA Veran Matic has said that a commission he heads will not stop until both the killers and the people who ordered the murders of journalists are uncovered. Alternatively, the Commission for Investigating Murders of Journalists will continue with its activities until it becomes clear that the truth is beyond their reach, he said in Jagodina on Tuesday. Commission head vows to find journalists' killers "For the first time, we have the Interior Ministry and the Security Information Agency on our side, we have the government which established this commission, and our colleagues and journalist associations, as well as the support of the whole world, and we must put it to good use," Matic said at a commemoration held on the 12th anniversary of the murder of Milan Pantic, who worked as a correspondent in Jagodina for the daily Vecernje Novosti. "We are working very hard and I think for the first time Pantic and our other murdered colleagues are not only mentioned on the anniversaries of their deaths, but their names are spoken every day and the investigation is moving forward," said Matic. He added that "in the coming days, a call will be sent out to citizens who have any knowledge or are eyewitnesses who could provide information, because the current case files do not contain enough of this kind of information." Pantic was killed 12 years ago in the hallway of his apartment building while coming home from a grocery store. His killers are yet to be brought to justice. The commemoration started with the laying of flowers and lighting of candles at the town cemetery in Jagodina, after which attendees visited the scene of the murder and Pantic's memorial bust on a square which now bears the reporter's name. The Milan Pantic award for journalistic bravery was presented at the National Library in Jagodina to Ivan Radulovac, a correspondent for Vecernje Novosti in Kosovska Mitrovica. Milan Pantic (file) Tanjug

Commission head vows to find journalists' killers

"For the first time, we have the Interior Ministry and the Security Information Agency on our side, we have the government which established this commission, and our colleagues and journalist associations, as well as the support of the whole world, and we must put it to good use," Matić said at a commemoration held on the 12th anniversary of the murder of Milan Pantić, who worked as a correspondent in Jagodina for the daily Večernje Novosti.

"We are working very hard and I think for the first time Pantić and our other murdered colleagues are not only mentioned on the anniversaries of their deaths, but their names are spoken every day and the investigation is moving forward," said Matić.

He added that "in the coming days, a call will be sent out to citizens who have any knowledge or are eyewitnesses who could provide information, because the current case files do not contain enough of this kind of information."

Pantić was killed 12 years ago in the hallway of his apartment building while coming home from a grocery store. His killers are yet to be brought to justice.

The commemoration started with the laying of flowers and lighting of candles at the town cemetery in Jagodina, after which attendees visited the scene of the murder and Pantić's memorial bust on a square which now bears the reporter's name.

The Milan Pantić award for journalistic bravery was presented at the National Library in Jagodina to Ivan Radulovac, a correspondent for Večernje Novosti in Kosovska Mitrovica.