The Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (REM) Council has decided to suspend this institution’s work, said REM on its website. The reasons for this decision are, as it said, numerous, but it pointed out that “they culminated in the fact that, in the recent days, the independence in the work of and the safety of Council members as well as of all REM employees has been seriously threatened.”

REM said in its statement that it has been exposed for years to pressures from a part of the opposition political parties, independent media and a part of the civil sector organizations, which directly threaten its independence in performing its work.

“However, when the N1 and Nova S television stations did not get a license in the competition, the pressures that REM was exposed to can be compared with a direct call for the lynching of the entire institution and individuals in it. With the calling of the competition for the so-called fifth license, the pressure turned into open threats. Despite the fact that the Law prohibits pressure on Council members and employees of REM services in the process of their deciding on the competition documentation, the threats are growing increasingly stronger,” said the statement.

REM Council member Judita Popovic told N1 that the government in Serbia is the one responsible for hindering the independence of the REM Council, adding that she does not feel threatened.

“REM’s independence is threatened, but the address is wrong. The civil sector, the opposition parties and the independent media are the wrong address. We all know very well who is threatening REM’s independence, and that is primarily this government,” said Popovic, adding that the REM meeting on Thursday was unnecessary and hasty.

REM added that a swastika and the acronym REM were drawn on Thursday on the entrance to the building in which the deputy REM Council chair lives, and noted that the same Nazi symbol was also drawn in the same place several months ago.

“It is clear what kind of message such symbols send. Seemingly disguised by a struggle for media freedoms, with black screens and black swastikas these quasi-journalistic, quasi-political and quasi-democratic scourges summon the ghosts of the past, totalitarianism, single-mindedness, lynching and persecution. Such pressures are directly contrary to democratic principles, which are based on the assumption of tolerating different opinions and institutions’ independence,” said REM.

Finally, at the end of its statement, the REM Council called on all political factors who “put Serbia’s betterment ahead of their self-interests to stand up in the defense of the Regulatory Authority’s independence and enable its unhindered work in line with the laws of the Republic of Serbia.”

The Association of Journalists of Kosovo (AJK), with the support of the OSCE Mission, European Union, UN Women Office, and German Embassy, presented today in Pristina its 2022 Annual Journalism Awards to journalists for their stories in six different categories.

Through these awards, the AJK and its partners are seeking to promote media freedom and safety and professional journalism, and honour journalists who produced outstanding stories during 2022.

“With media freedom in decline across the world it is vital that media use the power and influence of information responsibly, and inform the public with accurate, objective and independent news they can trust. I’m glad these awards go to such journalists in Kosovo, and I applaud their work in the interest of the public,” said Ambassador Michael Davenport, Head of OSCE Mission in Kosovo, as he presented the Journalist of the Year Award to Saranda Ramaj.

Saranda Ramaj, is a journalist with Koha Group. She has produced many public interest articles and investigative stories. They are related to corruption, irregularities in the justice system, abuses in healthcare and procurement, and violence against girls and women.

“With these awards, we draw attention to all the work done by the media, and all the hardship they experience while enabling democracy by informing the public and keeping the governments and officials accountable. We must all work to ensure that journalists can work freely, and all attacks against the media must be promptly investigated and adjudicated,” said Tomas Szunyog, EU Ambassador in Kosovo. He presented the Best Web Story of the Year award to Adelina Ahmeti.

Adelina Ahmeti is a journalist with Kallxo. Her series of articles is about the Prosecutorial Council of Kosovo, which has cancelled the recruitment of professional associates in the prosecution offices of Gjakova, Peja, and Prizren after BIRN reported that the Chief Prosecutor of Gjakova, Ramiz Buzhala, had leaked test questions.

“I am proud that UN Women has established the “Annual Journalism Award for Women’s Empowerment. At a time when the media is dominated by political issues and minimises the space for issues such as gender equality or the impact of global crises on women and girls, this award that will be presented today also focuses on the importance of advancing gender equality, and empowering women through the media in Kosovo” said Vlora Tuzi Nushi, Head of the UN Office in Kosovo. She presented the award to Riola Morina and Medinë Dauti.

Riola Morina and Medinë Dauti, are journalists with QIKA. They won the award for their article “The invisible women”. This research carried out by them scrutinises the inter-sectoral nature of challenges which women of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities face, and highlights the fact that they are particularly affected by poverty and exclusion. They face discrimination on many levels; both as women, and as members of a marginalized ethnic group.

“I’m really impressed by your work. The fact that your series of reporting provoked numerous reactions not only from NGOs and the general public but also from government institutions, means that with this release about discriminatory practices and attitudes against minority students from the RAE your story made a difference!! I would even go further. Ending discrimination against these very young kids will sustainably change their lives for the better. What more can a journalist wish for!” said Jörn Rohde, German Ambassador to Kosovo as he presented the Best TV Story of the Year award to Qendresa Tërshani.

Qendresa Tërshani, is a journalist with Klan Kosova. Her reports have to do with a ceremony of the ABC-bookend for first-grade students where Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian children have been discriminated against on an ethnic basis. In this case, their rights to inclusion in school cultural activities were violated. The publication of these TV stories prompted many reactions from all institutions at the central and local levels, including civil society organisations. As a result of her TV stories, the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation initiated investigations.

Xhavit Kajtazi, Sports journalist and jury member presented the Best Sports Journalism award to Dardan Idrizi.

Dardan Idrizi, is a journalist with RTV Dukagjini. His story was about Sabri Çabra and Astrit Hasani, two fans of KB Trepça, who never miss their matches even though they are both immobile.

Besnik Latifi, Cameraman and member of the AJK’s Board presented the Best Cameraman of the Year award to Korab Basha and Burim Mjeku.

Korab Basha and Burim Mjeku, are camera operators with Telegrafi. They won the award with their footage of the story “Members of the KSF during exercises in the “NATO Soldiers barracks in Istog”.

“I am very happy to see our colleagues’ hard work and dedication be awarded today with this ceremony. We have seen some exemplary journalism this year which shed light on topics such as misuse of public funds in the health system and racial discrimination in the country, or serious ethical breaches in the justice system. Encouraging to see that most of the winners are women, which only shows the crucial role they play in our media scene” said Xhemajl Rexha, the Chairperson of the Association of Journalists of Kosovo.

Jury members in this year’s edition of the Annual Journalism Awards were: Ismet Hajdari – Veteran journalist, Blerjana Bino – researcher on the SafeJournalists platform, Xhavit Kajtazi – Veteran sports journalist, Arben Hajredinaj from the OSCE Mission and Fatmire Tërdevci from the office of European Union.

The N1 TV station said on Wednesday that it decided to replace its regular programming with the statement Darkness in Serbia without the free media for 24 hours to show what the media scene would be like without it and Nova S.

“Dear N1 viewers, you were given an opportunity over the past 24 hours (Tuesday, December 6, 2022) to see what the media scene in Serbia would be like without the free media. We decided to take this drastic step to show the darkness that could prevail without N1 and Nova S,” a statement said.

“We wanted to create a realistic image of what reporting would be like if the Serbian public was given just one version of events, just one – the ruling view, just one opinion and news without critical tones. This was also done to draw attention to the years of pressure we have endured, to attempts to limit our viewership and obstruct our financing and business operations,” it added.

“The latest in the series of steps taken in Serbia to pressure the free media are the activities of the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media (REM) which has failed to decide on the fifth national broadcasting license even though every deadline has passed. Several months ago, N1 applied for a national license and that outcome showed that the REM did not care about media pluralism or improving the media scene. We see the same situation unfolding now which is why N1 is expressing solidarity with its colleagues at Nova S which has applied for the fifth license.

“We believe that it’s time for the public to ask itself whether reporting in Serbia is objective and unbiased, whether everyone has a choice and why propaganda is being imposed as the only model to provide information? Why is it possible that every ethical and professional rule can be broken in Serbia, hate speech promoted, “red lines” crossed in terms of content broadcast on TV.

“N1 has spent the past 8 years trying to abide by the basic postulates of journalism and provide information in the public interest every day. Your reactions have shown us that our efforts were not in vain.

“Thank you for your trust. We will try to justify it,” N1 said in the statement.

Yesterday, the Court of Appeal in Belgrade opened its five-day session to decide on the appeal against the first-instance verdict of the Specialized Court for Organized Crime for the murder of journalist and publisher Slavko Ćuruvija on 11 April 1999.

The reporting judge read the most important details of the first-instance judgment, and then the deputy prosecutor substantiated the appeal. He stated that he believed the first-instance court did not consider all evidence indicating that the defendants Ratko Romić and Miroslav Kurak murdered journalist Slavko Ćuruvija by order of Radomir Marković and Milan Radonjić.

Namely, the court of the first instance, contrary to what was written in the indictment, ruled that an NN, an unidentified person, committed the murder, as the court considered there was no evidence that Romić and Kurak did that directly.

The Deputy prosecutor believes that the Court of Appeal should hold a hearing and include in the evidence testimonies and evidence that the first-instance court rejected and punish all defendants with 40 years of prison each.

The trial continues today with the presenting of the defence evidence by the defendants and their lawyers.

Slavko Ćuruvija was killed around 5 pm, in the center of the Serbian capital – Belgrade, in the passage in front of the building where he lived. The Ministry of Internal Affairs at the time announced that “he was killed by a firearm, by unknown perpetrators, and that the workers of the Secretariat in Belgrade are intensively searching for the perpetrators of this criminal act.”

The killing happened during the NATO bombing of FR Yugoslavia. Six days before the murder, the daily newspaper “Politika Ekspres” (part of the system of the state-owned media company “Politika”) published an article entitled “Ćuruvija welcomes the bombs”, containing a horrible lie that Ćuruvija asked the West to bomb Serbia.

The owner of “Dnevni Telegraf” was demonized and branded as a traitor. This defamatory and dangerous article was also read out in full in the then most watched program of Radio and Television of Serbia.

After the murder, “Politika” gave more detailed information and reported the testimony of a citizen who said that “two assailants dressed in black and wearing black caps with facemasks with slits for eyes shot at Ćuruvija.” 

After the overthrow of Slobodan Milošević’s regime, information about a State Security secret file was published. The file, under the code name “Ćuran”, revealed that Ćuruvija and his wife in the days prior to his murder had been constantly followed by members of the State Security – in last two days of his life, by 27 security operatives, who were withdrawn from the task just minutes before the murder.

Everything is perfectly clear – both the motives and the background for the murder. However even after 23 years, the fight to punish this crime is still not over.

Eight years have passed since the indictment was filed and the trial began. Monday, December 5, 2022, the Court of Appeal in Belgrade will for the second time begin proceedings on the appealed verdict for murder.

The fight for justice has turned into decades of mortification and agony for the family and friends of the murdered man. The events that followed the process from the indictment and during the years of trial, exposed the insidious and far-reaching tentacles of the darkest side of the deep state.

The trial for the murder of Slavko Ćuruvija has become a symbolic testament to the struggle to punish crimes against journalists and the dark and criminalized parts of the security structures. Many processes in Serbia will depend on the outcome of the current trial.

The Serbian media community is hoping for a decisive court decision, which would be a resounding victory for truth and persistence that would show that the Serbian media profession has the strength to deal with the most difficult topics.

“For family and friends, it would be a small satisfaction, but significant. The stain will be removed from the name of Slavko Ćuruvija. Since we are a divided society, the attitudes of those who think similarly to the parts of the State Security that carried out the liquidations will not change much. However, the legal fact that Slavko was killed by the state because of his political views and the performance of his journalistic work will be confirmed,” states Veran Matić, the president of the Commission for Investigating the Murders of Journalists in Serbia. 

Matić adds that “it will be an encouragement for everyone that even after 23 years the perpetrators can be brought to justice”: 

“It will hopefully act as a preventive measure to deter potential new killers. It will be an encouragement for the possibility of finding legal solutions for unsolved murders of journalists, even after many years. It will also encourage us to never give up and to use all mechanisms available to us, such as our Commission for the Investigation of Murders of Journalists.”

Targeting journalists as “traitors” and “foreign mercenaries”

The attacks and targeting of Slavko Ćuruvija began in the 90s. In those years, independent media and journalists were under strong pressure from the government of Slobodan Milošević.

“At that time, Milošević had a certain type of protection from the West as a guarantor of the Dayton Peace Agreement,which ended the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1995. In 1997, Milosević closed more than 70 independent radio and TV stations. The following year, great pressure was exerted on the media in Serbia to report on police operations in Kosovo in a way that the government would like,” points out Veran Matić, at the time director of the independent RTV B92, who himself felt the full force of the attack by Milosević’s government. 

To ensure state control of news reporting in Serbia, the government of Slobodan Milošević passed the Law on Information in 1998, which institutionalized a legal assault against the media and journalists. The law enabled drastic penalties against independent media to be handed down in courts. The trials were held urgently, and the media and editors were sentenced to enormous financial fines, which they had to pay within 48 hours. If they didn’t pay, all their property would be confiscated. Among the most punished media were “Dnevni Telegraf” and the weekly “Evropljanin” owned by longtime journalist Slavko Ćuruvija.

“In addition to having their property confiscated, Slavko Ćuruvija was sentenced to prison terms. Nonetheless he fought back: The newspaper was printed in nearby Montenegro, smuggled into Serbia, confiscated… until the bombing of Yugoslavia, when in March of 1999, the Ministry of Information officially introduced censorship”,  says Veran Matić recalling that “Slavko then told the newsroom that he would not publish newspapers during the bombing of Yugoslavia, because he did not want to publish them censored”.

By that time, the regime-controlled media, reaching the majority of citizens of Serbia, demonized Slavko Ćuruvija. Ten days before the murder, Mirjana Marković, the wife of Slobodan Milošević, labeled this journalist as the main enemy of the state who caused the bombing and ominously announced that “the people would judge him”.

“The climax of the targeting was an article in “Politica Ekspres”. Few days later, Ćuruvija was killed. That shooting and retaliation was a multiple message to all journalists. Months prior to the killing, Ćuruvija had been under State Security monitoring measures, and those measures would be used as an infrastructure for liquidation. According to the indictment, he was killed by members of the State Security, under the direct coordination of the head of the State Security. Everything speaks in support of the claims that the decision to liquidate was made by Slobodan Milošević and his wife Mirjana Marković”, highlights Matić.

The fight for indictment

There was a belief that October 2000. and the change of government in Serbia, would bring a new dawn in the fight against impunity for crimes against the journalist. Especially, when two months after Milošević’s dismissal, a document of a codename “Ćuran” appeared in the public domain, undoubtably confirming the responsibility of the State Security in the murder of Slavko Ćuruvija.

However, in this case (and many others), the road of the rule of law remained – pitch black. The removal of dictator Slobodan Milošević did not bring about a quick indictment.

 “The new authorities delayed the changes in the State Security, so there was enough time to remove evidence, but also for a new survival strategy of the State Security Service, which was looking for new allies and continuously obstructed all possible investigations into political and other murders,” says Veran Matić, adding: “However, it is inexplicable why the representatives of the new democratic authorities did not fully investigate and prosecute symbolic cases such as the case of the murder of Slavko Ćuruvija. Nothing was done to create a clear discontinuity with the Milosevic regime, to carry out an urgent and consistent lustration, to change the system, to democratize the services, or to establish transparency and accountability in the work of the State Security servics. We have heard that people at the top of the service have changed, but that it has not been reformed”.

“This”, Matić points out, “was avenged in the most drastic way in 2003, when members of the special unit of the State Security killed the democratic Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić”.

 For years, Veran Matić, repeatedly reminded the authorities that impunity could be stopped by establishing a Commission for Investigating the Murders of Journalists (a body that would be composed of representatives of journalist associations, journalists, the Ministry of the Interior, the Security Information Agency, and with the support of the Government of Serbia).

 The Commission was established only at the beginning of 2013, and as its priority marked the investigation of the Ćuruvija case. Shortly, the Commission announced that there are more than 2,000 pages of testimonies, evidence and statements related to the murder of Slavko Ćuruvija.

In November 2013, then First vice-president of the Government of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić (who was Minister for Information in the Serbian government at the time of Ćuruvija’s murder), announced during the renowned political TV show “Utisak nedelje” that there had been recent progress in the investigation of the murder of Ćuruvija and that he expected it to be resolved soon.

On January 14, 2014, Serbian police arrested two suspects in Ćuruvija’s murder case, Milan Radonjić and Ratko Romić, both formerly employed by the Second Department of State Security Service (SDB).

Radomir Marković, former head of the Federal Republic of State Security Service and Miroslav Kurak, currently at large, were also named in the indictment. The former for allegedly ordering the murder and the latter for being the alleged executor.

Trial – A new round of attacks, treats, manipulations and abuses

With the filing of the indictment, a new round of demonization of the victim began. This time extending targeting to members of the Commission for the Investigation of Murders of Journalists as well. The most brutal attack on the president of the Commission Veran Matić, was in 2018 on the front page of one of the media outlets owned by “Politika”.

“The defendants defense at the trial very often used, or alluded to, the arguments used to hunt Slavko in the 90s – that he was a traitor, a foreign mercenary, that he collaborated with criminals. There were also more specific actions. A series of announcements were recorded claiming that the leader of the working group that investigated this case could be assassinated. Very often we received information that data was being accessed without authorization”, says Veran Matić. 

 During the trial, more than 60 members of the secret service and the police appeared. Among them, almost all 27 agents who followed Ćuruvija in the days before the murder. The deep state was fighting back. The contradictory statements of the witnesses brought confusion into the trial process.

“It was obvious that all the answers were orchestrated, agreed upon, and that the largest number of operatives were “getting out of the situation” by saying that a lot of time has passed, and they don’t remember. Obstruction continued at every level. Leading people from the service, who are not covered by the investigations, continued to work from the protected positions they had been given and to influence witnesses. This happened in other cases as well. According to those from the State Security who gave incriminating testimony, a new smear campaign was being waged. Some of the witnesses also reported threats to their families”, adds Matić.

In July 2017, the court panel abolished prison custody for two accused – Milan Radonjić and Ratko Romić – and replaced it with house arrest and ankle monitors. A year later, the court panel, at the suggestion of the defense, rejected part of the key evidence – data tapes from mobile phone base stations in the center of Belgrade, which showed where the accused were before, during and immediately after the murder of Ćuruvija. 

Veran Matić reminds that these data tapes were the central point of the accusation: 

“Therefore, the defense intended at all costs to exclude this evidence as illegal or with other explanations. It was a long battle because the judicial panel even made decisions twice that the evidence was illegal, but the higher court returned the evidence as completely legal. This crown evidence, together with other testimonies, represents a sum of evidence sufficient for the final judgment at the Court of Appeal. 

And there were many more battles in this case. For example, a struggle to allow leading inspector Dragan Kecman, who contributed decisively to the filing of the indictment, to testify in court. Death threats Kecman received were never investigated.”

100 years in prison

The first trial for the murder of Ćuruvija ended after four years. The verdict came on April 5, 2019 – 20 years after the crime. The following year, the Court of Appeal overturned this verdict. In December 2021, the second verdict was issued. 

The judicial panel of the Special Department for Organized Crime of the High Court in Belgrade, in a repeated proceeding, found all four accused guilty of the murder of Slavko Ćuruvija. They were sentenced to a total of 100 years in prison.

Former officials and operatives of the State Security Service Radomir Marković and Milan Radonjić were sentenced to 30 years each, and Miroslav Kurak and Ratko Romić to 20 years in prison each.

 However, according to the judicial panel, the instigator, the one who ordered the murder, and the immediate executor, the one who shot the journalist, remained unknown. How is it possible?

“Criminal and forensic processing of the murder scene was done unprofessionally. In a word, everyone knew that it was the work of the State Security, and that the bombing of Yugoslavia was in progress. Quite enough reasons to systematically obstruct the investigation of the murder, which was justified by many. But even without that evidence, the evidence and testimonies collected by the prosecutor clearly indicate that the accused Miroslav Kurak is the executor in cooperation with Ratko Romić and with the organization of the head of the Belgrade State Security Center Radonjić on the order of Radomir Marković, the head of the State Security. This seems not to have been convincing enough for the court panel, despite all the evidence, and they decided to introduce an unknown person as the perpetrator and the others as helpers and organizers. According to our law, it is not allowed to change the indictment in this way. I don’t understand why the court panel did this twice,” Matić points out.

From December 5 to 9 this year, the Court of Appeal will hold a public session regarding appeals against the second verdict. The long history of this court case revealed many obstacles, challenges and complications that were exposed, addressed, and confronted by the president of the Commission for Investigating Murders of Journalists. 

Therefore, it is assuring when Matić says that he expects the Court of Appeal to issue a final verdict and sentence the defendants to the same or similar sentences.

“I would like it if Serbia would be the first country that, after 23 years since the murder, has a verdict for the perpetrators of the murder, who come from the very top of the state and the security apparatus, which are usually a protected species. The judgment also decides the fate of the journalistic profession, but it is also a watershed for the judiciary. With the judgment, I believe that we will create space for some new energy for journalism, especially in the fight against impunity for murders of journalists and any violence against journalists”, concludes Matić.

This article has been writen by the investigative journalist Jelena L. Petković. She has been conducting research for many years into the killing and disappearance of journalists in Kosovo. Her work included interviews with more than 200 interlocutors: relatives, colleagues, acquaintances and members of international missions. Her work has contributed to disclose new information on the disappearances and killings.

In the past month in Serbia, several journalists have been targeted by serious threats raising fears for their physical safety. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins the Media Freedom Rapid Response partners and the Safe Journalists Network in condemning in the strongest terms the intimidation and often orchestrated campaigns by pro-government media outlets and members of the public to silence journalists. The undersigned organisations urge the authorities to take the necessary measures to ensure their protection and prevent further threats.

The latest shocking threat reported on 1 December 2022 targeted Nova S TV’s journalist Jelena Obucina. Obucina received messages via Twitter, threatening her with “impalement” and stating she “would be burned”. The chilling text is composed of repeated and meticulously described death threats and threats of sexual violence. The messages were sent after a statement published in the tabloid Alo wrongly accusing Obucina of threatening Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić on television and of making anti-state propaganda.

A few days ago, the home address of Serbian journalist Nenad Kulačin was published on posters pasted in downtown Belgrade. His colleague at the daily newspaper Danas, Marko Vidojković, received more than 20 death threats via social media following a guest appearance on TV Nova S, during which he commented on the FIFA World Cup match between Serbia and Brazil. Several tabloid newspapers published an identical article that targeted and insulted him over his views expressed regarding that match.

On 6 November 2022, Danas’ daily received a threatening email via an unknown Switzerland-based Protonmail email address directed at the newsroom, which listed specific journalists and columnists. The email read that “salvos of bullets” could be fired at them, and that it could “end up” like what happened to journalists of the French satirical paper Charlie Hebdo, who were killed in their offices by terrorists in 2015. The email called the journalists “enemy of the Serbian people”, “traitors” and mentioned the newspaper’s coverage of Kosovo, Montenegro, and the Republika Srpska. Since then, permanent police security has been positioned in front of the editorial offices in Belgrade.

The Safe Journalists Network said that, while the number of cases did not increase above the standard figures recently, the severity of those threats are of great concern:

“It is again clear that narrative and negative campaigns that start with statements from high-ranking government officials, usually continued by tabloids, lead to terrible threats from unknown people, especially on social media. We are concerned because such cases and incidents create confusion among citizens, who receive a completely wrong message from government officials and tabloids, that says that journalists are working against their country, that they are targeting the president and senior officials, and that they are actually enemies of Serbia.”

The undersigned organisations urge the Serbian authorities to publicly condemn the threats against the media, thoroughly investigate these cases as well as all reports filed by journalists, and ensure prevention of further attacks by promoting an environment that respects pluralistic opinions and diverging editorial policies.

Signed:

• ARTICLE 19 Europe
• European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)
• European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)
• International Press Institute (IPI)
• OBC Transeuropa (OBCT)

This statement has been coordinated by the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), which tracks, monitors and responds to violations of press and media freedom in EU Member States and Candidate Countries. This project provides legal and practical support, public advocacy and information to protect journalists and media workers. The MFRR is organised by a consortium led by the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) including ARTICLE 19, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), Free Press Unlimited (FPU), the Institute for Applied Informatics at the University of Leipzig (InfAI), International Press Institute (IPI) and CCI/Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa (OBCT). The project is co-funded by the European Commission. www.mfrr.eu