Serbian journalist Stefan Cvetkovic was reported missing in the Vojvodina town of Bela Crkva on the night of June 13th-14th.
„The police station in Bela Crkva received a report tonight that there is a ‘Polo’ car parked on Beogradska Street, Bela Crkva with the driver’s door open and the lights on. Police officers immediately arrived at the scene, after which it was established that the vehicle was used by the journalist Stefan Cvetkovic, and is owned by his father,“ the Ministry of Internal Affairs said in a statement yesterday.
The Serbian MIA announced that it has instructed several organizational units, and they are searching for Cvetkovic, including two helicopters, Gendarmerie, police dogs, divers, while a search of the wider area, where the vehicle was found, is being conducted, as well as the search of the lake and the canal, Danube-Tisa-Danube. Throughout the day, confirmation of this information was also reported by journalists from Serbian media outlets who are providing coverage directly from the scene.
During the day, news agencies also reported fresh details. Beta, referring to eyewitness accounts, said that the car, believed to be driven by Cvetkovic, the engine of which was working, while the door was open, and that Cvetkovic’s watch, with a broken wristband was found beside the abandoned car.
Cvetkovic’s mobile phones are turned off.
„Nebojsa Stefanovic and Bratislav Gasic are reporting the results of the investigation they are conducting to me every 15 minutes. I would say that all resources are available – both the police and the Security Information Agency – are in Bela Crkva, and I hope that they will be able to solve this case. That is what I can say,“ the Serbian President, Aleksandar Vucic, announced.
Journalists’ associations reacted, including the Journalists’ Association of Serbia, Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia, Independent Journalists’ Association of Vojvodina (NDNV), the Slavko Curuvija Foundation requested that the most intense investigation be conducted, and appealed to find Cvetkovic as soon as possible. Reporters without Borders and the OSCE also reacted.
„I hope that, as it was announced, the police will hurl all their resources into finding Cvetkovic, and that Cvetkovic will be considered missing for as little time as possible, that, most importantly, he will return to his family and then to all of us“ – the President of the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia, Slavisa Lekic, told RTK2 last night.
„The State President has become accustomed to mentioning, as an argument for good cooperation with journalists and as an argument that supports free speech, that not one journalist has been killed in Serbia since 2001. I hope, and I pray that this event today will not break this trump card of Aleksandar Vucic,“ he said, previously for N1, and he also repeated the same for a Serbian language channel in Pristina.
Recalling that the murder of Oliver Ivanovic is not resolved, and as it appears „is never going to be and the investigation is even being obstructed“, Veran Matic, the President of the Commission for Investigating the Murder of Journalists, told the same television channel:
„Very often the cases that end with the impunity of murder have their own chain. When a certain level is reached where there is a hint of discovery of a murder, there are new murders, so we live in that cycle. This impunity is something that gives you an illusion that the cheapest option is to kill someone.“
Such threats, as a rule, lead to radicalization, and Cvetkovic said that he was threatened, as he claimed, by tycoons and politicians in power, said Matic.
Journalists’ associations also warned about threats made to Cvetkovic.
The topic of the murder of Oliver Ivanovic is precisely what attracted public attention to Stefan Cvetkovic, only a few days after the „ordered criminal liquidation“, as he described the murder of the most famous Serbian politician from Kosovo at a media conference he organized at the UNS press center in Belgrade, entitled „What is the cost of liquidation in North Kosovo?“
On May 19th, Cvetkovic announced that he was detained for, allegedly, six hours, at the Jarinje administrative crossing point, stating that he received a document from the Kosovo Police at that time confirming that he would be detained for questioning at the order of the Special Prosecutor investigating Ivanovic’s murder, and that he went to Kosovo for journalistic business. And then, as the media broadcasted yesterday, he claimed that he was still investigating the murder of Oliver Ivanovic.
On his Facebook page, which is filled with photographs, Cvetkovic also published photos from North Kosovo, including a visit to the south side of the main bridge in Kosovska Mitrovica, as well as a short video filmed at the scene of the murder of Oliver Ivanovic.
„They had no other way to get to me, since they noticed that I came into contact with some people who are interested in the investigation,“ Cvetkovic told Beta after being released, Insider reports in today’s text.
The same media also recalls that Cvetkovic was unfairly sentenced last year to more than two years in prison on the basis of reports from officials of the Srpska Napredna Stranka (SNS).
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
