BELGRADE, 11.06.2018. – Association of Journalists of Serbia (UNS) President Vladimir Radomirovic called the Organized Crime Prosecutor to take over the investigation into the murder of journalist Milan Pantic 17 years ago.
Pantic, a local correspondent for Belgrade daily newspaper Vecernje Novosti, was beaten to death in front of the building he lived in his home town of Jagodina on June 11, 2001.
Speaking at an annual commemoration of his death, Radomirovic said progress had been made in the investigation thanks to a commission formed to investigate the deaths of journalists. “The Commission published some findings and asked the prosecutor to react last year. This time the Commission said that the motive for the killing were Pantic’s reports on privatization. Milan Pantic was killed because of his work as a journalist and we need the Organized Crime Prosecutor to take over the investigation,” Radomirovic said at the annual commemoration of Pantic’s death, adding that the people behind the murder are high-ranking officials who can re-direct the investigation and can influence reality.
The commemoration included a presentation of Milan Pantic awards for courage in journalism which was given to the Radio TV Puls from the Kosovo town of Silovo for “professionally and reliably informing the public in extremelly hard conditions, often risking their own lives”.