#IFJBlog- Serbia: Darkness and despair, return of the deep state
Cenzolovka 06.02.2024 | Jelena L. Petković
Eerie despair. No way out and no hope. The vicious hand of the 1990’s deep state continues to hold us in their grip. This is the situation in which the Serbian journalistic community finds itself after the publication on Friday 2 February of the Belgrade Court of Appeal’ final verdict acquitting the suspected murderers of Slavko Ćuruvija, journalist and publisher of Dnevni Telegraf and Evropljanin, who was killed in 1999.
Twice in previous court proceedings, former members of the State Security Service Radomir Marković, Milan Radonjić, Ratko Romić and Miroslav Kurak were sentenced to a total of 100 years in prison. Now, after the decision of the Court of Appeal, they are exonerated and free. Despite all the pressure and demands by domestic and international journalistic organizations, including the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) (which also had its own observer at the