Janauary 8, 2026
The judgment of the Belgrade Court of Appeal, by which the defendants charged with the murder of journalist Slavko Ćuruvija were acquitted on 2 February 2024, was rendered with substantive violations of the provisions of criminal procedure, to the benefit of the defendants, the Supreme Court of Serbia has ruled.
Acting on an extraordinary legal remedy, the Supreme Court partially upheld the request of the State Prosecutor’s Office, finding that certain highly significant pieces of evidence in the acquittal judgment in the Ćuruvija murder case had not been properly assessed.
As stated by the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal put forward certain conclusions that were “entirely unclear” or “contradictory” and not in accordance with the testimony of some of the prosecution’s key witnesses, nor with crucial material evidence, such as the analysis of mobile phone base station data relating to calls made by the defendants immediately before and after Ćuruvija’s murder.
We welcome the Supreme Court’s ruling, while noting that it cannot change the grim reality that, nearly 27 years on, those responsible for the murder of a journalist have not been held accountable.
Slavko Ćuruvija was killed by the state for speaking publicly. The absence of final justice is not only a tragedy for his family and for those who respected him as a journalist; it also sends a deeply disturbing message to journalists and to all those who continue to fight for the rule of law in a country that has lost its moral compass and where, even today, critics of those in power are persecuted and attacked in the most alarming ways.
The Ćuruvija murder case has produced three mutually contradictory judgments. The defendants were first convicted at first instance and sentenced to prison terms. The Court of Appeal then acquitted them in a final judgment. The Supreme Court has now established that this final judgment was made in violation of the law. We demand accountability from all those within the judicial system who contributed to this catastrophic failure of the justice system, without which this country has no future.
The final judgment in the murder of Slavko Ćuruvija, which acquitted former officials and members of the State Security Service Radomir Marković, Milan Radonjić, Ratko Romić, and Miroslav Kurak, was delivered by a panel of the Belgrade Court of Appeal composed of Nada Hadži Perić, Vesna Petrović, Dragan Ćesarović, Marko Jocić and Dušanka Đorđević.
Slavko Ćuruvija was killed on 11 April 1999, after members of the State Security Service had kept him under surveillance for days prior to the murder.
The judgment is available HERE (Serbian).
