Miroslav Kurak

"The special department for organized crime of the Appellate Court in Belgrade, after the hearing, issued a verdict on April 19, 2023, which, by accepting the appeals of the defense and partially accepting the appeal of the Prosecutor's Office, changed the first-instance verdict and acquitted the defendant Radomir Markovi of the charge of having committed the crime of aggravated murder in incit

Former Serbian State Security Unit for Special Operations, commander Milorad "Legija" Ulemek, refused to answer questions about the murder of Serbian journalist Slavko Curuvija at the Belgrade Court of Appeal.

Legija told the court that he stands by his 2014 statement from the investigation and his 2016 statement from the first trial.

Former head of Serbian State Security Radomir Markovic repeated to the appeal court that he is not guilty for the 1999 murder of the Serbian journalist and editor Slavko Curuvija.

Markovic claimed that Curuvija was only put under state surveillance "due to his contacts with foreign intelligence agencies …The task of every state security is to establish the nature of these contacts".

The main trial was opened in the proceedings against four former employees of the State Security Agency who were sentenced by the first-instance verdict to a total of 100 years in prison for participating in the murder of journalist and owner of "Dnevni Telegraf" Slavko uruvija in 1999.

Belgrade Higher Court on Thursday found four former Serbian state security employees guilty after a retrial of the murder in 1999 of journalist and editor Slavko Curuvija, who was known for his opposition to the regime of Slobodan Milosevic.

"When I came to [daily newspaper] Borba in 1990, he was a reporter and political analyst, and known for writing a couple of pamphlets, one of which I remember was about the people from Goli Otok [political prison in Socialist Yugoslavia]," Gunjic recalled.

Accused of participating in the April 11, 1999 murder, the then head of the Belgrade State Security Center (DB), Milan Radonjic, and DB's inspector, Ratko Romic, reiterated at the end of the trial that "they are not guilty and the indictment was mounted to convict the DB."

The Chairman of Serbia's Commission for Investigating Murders of Journalists during Slobodan Milosevic's regime, Veran Matic, told BIRN that investigators still face grave risks doing their job.

Curuvija was killed on April 11, 1999, during a NATO bombing of the FRY in front of his home in downtown Belgrade where he lived, that day was Easter according to the Julian calendar.
Four years ago, four members of the then State Security Division were sentenced to execution for liquidation a year ago, totaling 100 years in prison.

After reading the verdict, the president of the Trial Chamber announced that the accused Radomir Markovic and Milan Radonjic were sentenced to 30 years in prison. Miroslav Kurak and Ratko Romic received 20 years each, Prva TV reported on Friday.