Slavko Ćuruvija is back on trial, on the very day marking his death.
Author: Veran Matic
Twenty-seven years ago, Slavko was on trial because of the infamous Law on Public Information. Twenty-six years ago, Ćuruvija was killed. Last year, after two first-instance verdicts totaling a hundred years in prison, the suspects for his murder were acquitted.
Today, the foundation bearing Slavko Ćuruvija’s name is on trial, with those who are formally innocent now suing it. Informally, however, the public does not share the same view as the Court of Appeal panel that acquitted them. After a painful ten-year trial, the public is clear about who ordered, planned, and carried out the murder of Slavko Ćuruvija, and whose interests were served by ensuring that the final verdict was not what it should have been.
The new trial of Slavko Ćuruvija takes place amid the specific circumstances of a deep socio-political crisis and protests, which have been strongly maintained by students. Their main demand is that institutions do their job. Had they done so, Slavko would not have been murdered on the day he was.
How can we explain this to students, most of whom weren’t even born at the time? How can we explain to them the photo from the recent funeral of the person featured in the documentary „See You in the Obituary“, where a former prominent member of the state security agency, who believed Ćuruvija posed a greater problem than the main protagonists of the documentary produced by the former B92, is seen triumphantly strutting around?
It’s hard to explain. It’s practically inexplicable. At the same time, they can only learn the truth from us—those of us who were direct witnesses—but there are fewer and fewer of us, as the systematic erasure of traces and repackaging of history takes place. One such way is through the trial of the Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation on the anniversary of his murder.
Whether intentional or not, this trial sends a direct message to all of us still alive: We won’t leave you alone, even in heaven. We will judge you, cover your tracks, and ensure that in the future, only one interpretation remains—one that challenges the truth established during the Media Nuremberg, when a hundred years of imprisonment were handed down.
We must stand against this and not lose hope. Even in times when the dead Slavko Ćuruvija is once again put on trial.
The students have understood how the suppression of truth and responsibility works and have decided to fight for the truth about the deaths of 16 citizens to be known now and for responsibility to be determined immediately. Their fight calls for the organization of society in such a way that it becomes the normal state of affairs, one that would never again require such enormous renunciation and self-sacrifice. This is why solidarity is vital now.
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