The front page of the newspaper Danas as a protest against the verdict for the murder of Ćuruvija: "Vučić started the chase"

The front page of the newspaper Danas for February 5 is a sign of the editorial office's protest against the outcome of the trial of the defendants for the murder of colleague Slavko Ćuruvija, who were acquitted by the decision of the Appellate Court in Belgrade, the editorial office of that newspaper said.

On the front page of Danas there is only the inscription "Slavko Ćuruvija 1949 - 1999 - 2024".

The Court of Appeal announced on Friday that it changed the first-instance verdict and thereby acquitted the four defendants for the murder of journalist Slavko Ćuruvija on April 11, 1999 - members of the State Security Department, Radomir Marković, Milan Radonjić, Ratko Romić and Miroslav Kurak.

The newspaper Danas stated on Facebook that their front page is a sign of protest from that newsroom due to the outcome of the trial of the defendants for the murder of journalist Slavko Ćuruvija.

"We believe that the court's decision is proof that in Serbia both the judiciary and the security services must be thoroughly reformed, because they still act as if we are in the dark labyrinths of the nineties. The attitude towards journalists of critical media is also the same as in the nineties, the only thing is that the state has not yet started that he is killing us in the streets," the newspaper said.

As they added, the editorial office of Danas also "suffered" under the Law on Public Information 25 years ago, when "the persecution of Slavko Ćuruvija under that Law began at the same time."

"First, his newsroom was emptied by court seizures, and then the State Security shot him with 17 bullets in the back in the center of Belgrade. Aleksandar Vučić started the manhunt for Slavko Ćuruvija at the time. We remember," the post added.

Protest in front of the Court of Appeal

Journalist associations, media associations and trade unions will organize a protest today in front of the Court of Appeal in Belgrade due to the acquittal of the accused for the murder of Ćuruvija.

In the call to the citizens to join them in the protest, the associations stated that "25 years after the murder ordered and organized by the state and nine years since the start of the trial, the murder of Slavko Ćuruvija remains an unpunished crime, and the citizens of Serbia remain without justice".

"They took our breath away. We were speechless. There are no more words that we can address to the judiciary, which surrendered to force," they stated in the statement.

The Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation, the Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia, the Independent Association of Journalists of Vojvodina, the Media Association, the Online Media Association, Local Press, the KUM Nezavisnost Trade Union, the Association of Independent Electronic Media and the Association of Serbian Journalists called the protest scheduled for 14 p.m.

"Come, bring your friends and relatives, and bring a mirror - to show the judiciary our own reflection," the organizers stated in the invitation.