Colleagues hope case of murdered journalist will be solved

Colleagues hope case of murdered journalist will be solved

JAGODINA -- On the anniversary of his murder, journalist associations have said they expect the killers of Milan Pantić to be discovered by next year.

It would come in the wake of the recent indictment for the murder of another journalist, Slavko Ćuruvija.

They gathered in the town of Jagodina on the 13th anniversary of the murder of the Večernje Novosti daily's correspondent. A memorial service was held at the cemetery, and later in the day flowers and wreaths were placed at a memorial plaque at the murder scene, and at a bust in the town's square that bears Pantić's name.

Pantić was killed on June 11, 2001, succumbing to what investigators said were multiple strikes to the head caused by a blunt object. He was attacked in the early evening at the entrance to the building where he lived with his family. His killer or killers and masterminds of this crime have not yet been found.

The commemoration at the cemetery was attended by his family, friends and fellow journalists from Jagodina and representatives of journalist associations - UNS General Secretary Nino Brajović, NUNS President Vukašin Obradović, acting editor-in-chief and director of Večernje Novosti, Ratko Dmitrović, Veran Matić, chairman of the Commission for Investigating Murders of Journalists, and commission members from Jagodina.

Matić later addressed those gathered in the square named after Pantić to say that this time last year, as the commission was beginning its work, none of the cases of murdered journalists in Serbia had been solved, while now the first indictment, in the Ćuruvija case, has been raised.

"The suspects are in custody, and I believe...