Commission to focus on murder of journalist Pantic

Commission to focus on murder of journalist Pantic

"After accomplishing great success that is being reflected in the fact that the case of the killing of Slavko Curuvija was brought to a start of judicial procedure, for which we are confident that it will result in determining the truth on this killing, the ones who ordered it and the executioners, the Commission and work group within the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Security Information Agency currently focus on resolving the killing of journalist Milan Pantic," it said.

The statement quoted the president of the work group, Dragan Kecman, as defining current circumstances in this case in the following manner:

"When we take a look to the work done so far, and the determination for these crimes to be resolved, we are under impression that there were long-term delays in investigations and that they were activated only from time to time, in case of need. Seven work groups had worked on this case so far, and when we draw the line and see the result of their work, we cannot say that they did not accomplish certain breakthroughs, but it seems that the working method was wrong - after getting a piece of operational data, they checked it without any preparation."

"Being eager to achieve results, large number of details remained unresolved - it was neither confirmed nor eliminated. We made significant progress in this field of work, as we established working system in which we analyze and check all operative data on the possible motive, master minds or executioners of this crime. Now, all findings are being checked through, they are confirmed or dismissed, while work group firmly stands behind them. This working system is now implemented in this case, taking as a role model working principle in the case called Curan. It turned out that such methodology gives positive results. We can just state the fact that, as in previous cases, we also find missing material in this case as well, and it was put to use within work group, which called for focusing on it around the clock in order to methodize collected data, to analyze it and to identify the persons that found themselves in the immediate vicinity of the location where journalist Pantic got killed. This is done in a highly professional way, by using the system of elimination, and downsizing the number of persons suspected to be executioners. In this analysis, it is necessary to work step by step, in order not to make any oversight."

"It is encouraging that the Commission and work group possess precise and clear goals, and priorities are focused to four to five strongest motives as to the fact who might have ordered the killing and who might have executed it. Work group made working agenda listed by priorities, and we are working in accordance with it. Due to the ongoing investigation, we are not in a position to present public with all our findings yet. We hope that we will soon be able to confront the citizens of Serbia, offering them answer to the question who committed this crime," Kecman said.

"Apart from the above mentioned, the Commission makes great efforts to assist Prosecution and the Ministry of Justice to get positive response from the German Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Justice on our request to conduct interview with one of potential actors of this killing, for which we requested international legal assistance," the statement said, and concluded:

"The Commission will continue to work intensively on those cases until their final resolution."