The murder of Ćuruvija, "the epilogue of permanent persecution"

Second degree proceedings for the murder of Slavko Ćuruvija are underway in Belgrade. The trial began in 2015, and when the Court of Appeal makes its final decision, it will be the first final verdict in Serbia for the murder of a journalist.

Former commander of the Special Operations Unit Milorad Ulemek Legija, who was a key witness for the prosecution, and former members of the organized crime group, appeared before the Appellate Council, in the second-instance proceedings for the murder of Slavko Ćuruvija, on Wednesday, March 8. of the "Zemun clan", Miloš and Aleksandar Simović.

In two first-degree proceedings for the murder of Ćuruvija, the former head of the State Security (DB) Radomir Marković, the former head of the Belgrade center of the DB Milan Radonjić and the former inspector of the DB Ratko Romić were sentenced to a total of one hundred years in prison. Former DB reserve member Miroslav Kurak, who is on the run, was also convicted.

When he appeared in the courtroom on Wednesday, Milorad Ulemek Legija said that he had "nothing to add or take away" from what he had already said in the first-instance proceedings, that he did not see the purpose of the new examination and that everything he said was already written in the minutes. He gave his first statement in 2014, and after that, after the investigation had stalled for a long time, Romić and Radonjić were arrested.

He appeared before the court two years later. When asked by the judge and the prosecutor if threats were sent to him, Ulemek said that they were, but not now, but on the eve of his testimony before the court in 2016. "That's all I have to say," said Ulemek.

He, together with the Simović brothers, was brought before the Appellate Council from the Zabela prison near Požarevac, where all three are serving thirty years, i.e. forty-year prison sentences for several murders, including the assassination of former Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic and the murder of former Serbian President Ivan Stambolic.

Miloš Simović, who, like his brother Aleksandar, but also Milorad Ulemek Legija, appeared before the Appellate Council in a prison suit, said that he did not remember what he had said during the investigative procedure in 2014, and then before the court in 2016, so that the testimony cannot confirm.

Judge Vesna Petrović asked him if he knew anything about the murder of Slavko Ćuruvija, and he said that he did not want to answer questions and expose himself to inconvenience, that he did not know the accused, nor was he in any way a participant in what what are they charged with? His brother, Aleksandar Simović, answered the same questions and repeated several times - "I don't want to participate in this". Like Miloš Simović, he denied that he had been threatened for testifying in this proceeding.

What do they not want to talk about now?

During the 2014 investigation, Milorad Ulemek Legija told the Prosecutor's Office that in March 1999, Radomir Marković told him that "someone who threatens the security of the state should be removed", but, he says, he refused, because his unit then, at the time NATO bombing, was in Kosovo.

He also testified that in 2000 he spoke with Radomir Marković about the arrest of a person, in which members of the DB and his unit were supposed to participate, and that the former head of the DB, when he asked him who would lead it , answered: "Those from Radonje, who killed Ćuruvija". When he left the meeting, Ratko Romić and Miroslav Kurak were in the corridor, who, according to the indictment, shot Slavko Ćuruvija.

When Ulemek appeared in court in September 2016, he said that because of his testimony, he and his family were threatened, so he refused to answer the questions of the judges, the prosecutor, the defense attorney and the injured parties, and reduced his testimony to the story of the meeting with Radomir Marković from 2000.

Miloš and Aleksandar Simović did not want to talk about their earlier claims before the Court of Appeal on Wednesday, that their leader, the so-called of the "Zemun clan" Dušan Spasojević ordered to kill Ratko Romić and Miroslav Kurak, who, as they understood at the time, killed Ćuruvija. The goal was to prevent the possibility of being discovered who ordered the murder of Slavko Ćuruvija.

Two first-instance verdicts

The Court of Appeal called those three witnesses because the prosecution and defense appealed the second first-instance verdict. The first instance verdict was annulled by the Court of Appeal in 2020 and ordered a retrial. At the end of 2021, a second first-instance verdict was handed down, almost identical to the first, in which it is stated that Radomir Marković is guilty of the murder of Slavko Ćuruvija because he incited the murder, Milan Radonjić because he agreed on the murder with Ratko Romić, Miroslav Kurak and NN-lic , and who, according to the verdict, is the immediate perpetrator of the crime.

The indictment, however, states that the immediate perpetrator was Miroslav Kurak. That point in the indictment was not confirmed by the testimony of Branka Prpa, who was with Slavko Ćuruvija at the time they killed him.

She said on several occasions from the beginning of the investigation until the trial before the Court of Appeal on Monday, March 6, that Miroslav Kurak was not the man who shot Slavko Čuruvija. She explained that the man she saw shooting did not look like Kurak at all, and that she later identified Ćuruvija's killer on an obituary with about 60 percent certainty. It turned out that it was Luka Pejović, who was killed in 2000. She said of the man who shot he "had black eyes" and was "distinctly pale".

"He was absolutely calm, without nervousness, without blinking... These are moments of magic. It happened when I was 46 years old, now I am 70. I thought that I must not forget, that I must remember. You have to constantly force yourself to don't forget that, even though you want to forget it," said Branka Prpa on Monday in front of the Court of Appeal in Belgrade.

At the same time, she reminded that "this murder was the epilogue of the permanent persecution of Slavko Ćuruvija. It cannot be said that it was, because he was hanging out with foreign agents. He hung out with journalists. In March 1999, he was sentenced to five months in prison, and he was killed in April," Prpa said.

Defense requests

On Wednesday, the lawyers of the defendants tried to dispute the testimony of Ulemek and the Simović brothers, stressing that they were forced to say that and that what they said has nothing to do with the truth. "It is clear from today's statements that they know nothing about the murder of Ćuruvija. They never even spoke freely, but were forced to do so. While they are in prison, they are not allowed to say that," said lawyer Zora Dobričanin Nikodinović, who also represents Radonjić. and Romić.

Vladimir Marinkov, the lawyer of Radomir Marković, requested that the statements of three witnesses be excluded from the case, because, as he claims, they were obtained illegally, while Kurak's defense attorney, Stevan Protić, stated that the thesis that his client shot Ćuruvija was a fabrication and that Milorad Ulemek Legija never said anything like that in any statement.

At the trial on Monday, Zora Dobričanin Nikodinović requested a reconstruction of Ćuruvija's murder and even suggested that it be done on the anniversary of that crime, April 11. She told reporters in front of the court on Wednesday that there is no evidence that Romić and Kurak are responsible for the murder of Slavko Ćuruvija.

The first verdict for the murder of a journalist

The next public hearing before the Court of Appeal in this proceeding will be held on March 28. Although it cannot be predicted when this will happen, the Court of Appeals, which has already canceled the first-instance verdict, this time must make a final decision and confirm or modify the existing verdict.

If confirmed, Milan Radonjić and Radomir Marković, who has already been sentenced to 30 years in prison for the murder of former Serbian President Ivan Stambolić and four officials of the Serbian Reconstruction Movement, will receive 40 years in prison each, as well as for the attempted murder of Vuk Drašković in Budva in 2000. In that case, Ratko Romić and Miroslav Kurak will each be sentenced to 20 years in prison.

If the prosecutor's appeal is upheld, all four will be sentenced to 40 years in prison, and if the Appellate Council accepts the defense's allegations, the former DB members will be acquitted of this crime.

It will be the first final verdict in Serbia for the murder of a journalist, since the murders of Milan Pantić in 2001 and Dada Vujasinović in 1994 have not yet received their judicial epilogue.