On June 11, 2001, around 7:30 a.m., journalist Milan Pantić, a correspondent of Večernje Novosti in Jagodina, a small town in Serbia, was killed with three brutal blows to the head.
The cold-blooded murder happened as the victim was entering the building where he lived, at the doorway where he felt safe, a few steps away from home.
Known for his uncompromising articles on criminal affairs and corporate corruption, he was just returning from the grocery store. In his hand, he was holding a loaf of bread.
In Serbia, as we mark the anniversary of 23 years of a crime against a humble local journalist, fearless in exposing the most terrible aspects of corruption, we also mark 23 years of impunity for unprecedented crimes committed by killers who are obviously above the law.
Vicious assassinators of journalist Milan Pantić, an honest and objective reporter, didn't just kill him – their deadly message silenced many.
As Veran Matić, the Chairman of the Commission for Investigating Murders of Journalists in Serbia, underlined in an interview published by Javni Servis website, "killers hired to murder Milan Pantić are serious criminals who are still active", adding openly: “the power of the ones who ordered the murder is stronger than the system”.
Prosecutions
On November 9, 2023, the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime decided not to conduct an investigation into the murder of journalist Milan Pantić. They made the decision after more than a year of consideration. For the second time (they did it for the first time in 2020) the case was sent back to the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Jagodina.
The decision was made shortly after the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists on 2 November. And following the letter from the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) to Serbia’s president Aleksandar Vučić and other high officials noting that “the IFJ has joined its affiliates in demanding Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić to properly investigate the killing of journalist Milan Pantić”.
The Journalists’ Association of Serbia (UNS) depicted it as an "inadmissible and shameful decision of the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime".
Once again hopes of the Commission for Investigating Murders of Journalists in Serbia placed on the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime went down the drain, because, as the Commission and UNS pointed out, the investigation "exceeds the capacities" of the local Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Jagodina.
"When you have cases that are not solved for 15-20 years, then it is very difficult with evidence. The Working Group of the Ministry of Interior did a great job. Inspector Dragan Kecman, who took over the leadership of this Working Group, led the investigation to the perpetrators and motives," Matić points out.
Prior to that, seven working groups of the Ministry of Interior dealt with the investigation of the murder of journalist Milan Pantić for 12 years, every 18 months, new teams were formed, yet none gave any results.
Jurisdiction
Only yesterday, the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime, for the first time reacted and elaborated their November’s decision.
“After a comprehensive analysis of the files of the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Jagodina, formed against unknown perpetrators in connection with the murder of journalist Milan Pantić, it was determined that in this particular case, there is not only no evidence but not data on the basis of which it could be concluded that it is a criminal offence committed by an organised criminal group, that is, a criminal offence of organised crime, which is the basis for establishing the jurisdiction of the Public Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime", was an answer published by Serbian news portal Nova.rs.
Nevertheless, Matić underlines that during months of decision-making on jurisdiction, there was no discussion with the representatives of the Working Group of the Ministry of Interior that worked on this case.
"It is as if a decision was made in advance and there is no discussion about it. The vocabulary used by the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime in this announcement does not contribute to efforts to jointly achieve success in the investigation and indictment. As if there was a desire to discredit the valuable work in this investigation", he adds.
The Chairman of the Commission for Investigating Murders of Journalists in Serbia emphasises that "the Working Group for the investigation of the murder of Milan Pantić came to the data, indications and certain pieces of evidence that speak of the motive in the robbery and criminal international privatisation of a company of the Novi Popovac cement plant".
"We also learned about the possible perpetrators of the murder. These are two cases that need to be connected into one whole through an investigation and an indictment. The prosecution does not pay attention to the motive but focuses only on the act of murder. If there is no unified investigation, it will be difficult to solve this murder successfully”, explains Matić, concluding:
“I think this case is of national importance. Also, I understand that it is very difficult to do an investigation after so many years. Precisely because of this, it is necessary to use all the forces available to society in order to reach the goal".
The Commission for Investigating Murders of Journalists in Serbia continued working. Yesterday their representatives, including Veran Matić, met with the High Prosecutors Office in Jagodina.
The journalist who couldn’t be intimidated
Journalist Milan Pantić was 46 years old when his life was brutally taken away. His friends depict him as “friendly, energetic and well-liked” and “always informed and in the lead” as a journalist. They also remember harassment and threats that Pantić received, noting that the brave reporter was a sort of a man who couldn’t be intimidated.
Without any doubt, Milan Pantić was killed because of his professional journalistic work.
He devoted most of his articles at the time to the Jagodina brewery and the Novi Popovac cement factory, companies that were being prepared for privatisation while their managements were the subject of several court cases due to suspicions of business malpractice.
“It has been 23 years and everything is the same. The hopes were that the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime would bring the killers and the masterminds to justice. Now it is back to Jagodina, and everything starts all over again. But, the hope dies last. And I do hope someday that there will be an indictment. Journalists will always talk about this publicly, to keep the story in focus, to fight impunity”, underlines Pantić’s friend Branislav Jovanović.
To fight back
Two decades of procrastination, in this case, lead us to believe that the murder of Milan Pantić is a hot topic for power who demonstrate a sublime devotion to turning it into a cold case.
On June 11th, Serbian journalists gathered in Jagodina to commemorate and honour their murdered colleague.
“Milan Pantić was killed 23 years ago, freedom is killed every year that follows”, stated Živojin Rakočević, president of UNS.
At the IFJ Congress in Oman in 2022, a Resolution was adopted calling for the efficient judicial procedure and the engagement of the Serbian Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime.
“A society that lets journalists' killers and harassers walk free is not a democracy”, states the letter sent by the IFJ president Dominique Pradalié to the president of Serbia.
Noting that impunity is on the rise in Europe, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) counts the Milan Pantić murder as one of the 48 unpunished crimes in 13 European countries.
“The fact that there is still no justice for the murder of Milan Pantić is a message to the whole society that it is not safe and that murderers will not always answer”, commented Maja Sever, president of the EFJ for Serbian website Cenzolovka.
A day after the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime's decision regarding its jurisdiction to investigate the murder of Milan Pantić was published in the media, another appalling blow hit all Serbian journalists. The Belgrade Court of Appeal acquitted four members of the former State Security Service accused of the murder in 1999 of Slavko Ćuruvija, journalist and publisher of Dnevni Telegraf and Evropljanin. In two long previous court proceedings, they had been sentenced to a total of 100 years in prison.
“The impunity that was shown in the case of the murder of Slavko Ćuruvija causes great damage to the position of journalists and media in Serbia when it comes to their safety. Impunity in the case of the murder of Milan Pantić would only confirm the thesis that Serbia is a safe house for abusers of journalists and murderers of journalists", concludes Veran Matić.
Only the rule of law can shed light, publicly identifying masterminds and murderers. Until then, the impunity for murders of journalists in Serbia remains one hundred percent. And for us, journalists in Serbia, there is no way out.
*This article has been written by investigative journalist Jelena L. Petković. She has been working for many years on combating impunity for crimes against journalists and has over many years conducted research into the killing and disappearance of journalists in Kosovo. She has conducted interviews with more than 200 interlocutors: relatives, colleagues, acquaintances and members of international missions, disclosing new information on the disappearances and killings.