Slavko Ćuruvija was a journalist and founder of the first independent daily newspapers in Serbia. He was known as a critic of the government of then Serbian president Slobodan Milošević. He was killed on 11 April 1999, on Orthodox Easter, in central Belgrade, in front of the entrance to the building where he lived on Svetogorska Street. The murder took place during the NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
The trial for the murder began in 2015, seventeen years after the crime. In 2019, the Special Court in Belgrade found four former members of the State Security Service guilty. The verdict stated that the direct perpetrator of the murder was an unknown person. In 2024, the Court of Appeal permanently overturned the verdict, acquitting the defendants. The killing of Slavko Ćuruvija remains one of the most significant unresolved murders of a journalist in contemporary Serbian history.
The Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation points to additional circumstances of the case. According to the foundation, the journalist was followed by members of the State Security Service in the days before the murder, and the surveillance was discontinued shortly before the attack. The indictment was filed only in 2014, and after two rounds of trials and different verdicts, the proceedings ended in 2024 with an acquittal. The foundation emphasizes that no one has been punished for the murder and that the case remains without legally established responsibility, raising further questions about accountability and the state’s response to the crime.
Today, a street in Belgrade bears the name of Slavko Ćuruvija, and a memorial plaque has been placed at the site where he was killed, at Svetogorska 35.
Foto: Wikimedia Commons / autor nepoznat
