Journalists targeted ahead of Curuvija murder ruling

After the front page in the weekly Ilustrovana Politika "The Hounds Have Been Released," and the offensive mention of US Ambassador in Belgrade Kyle Scott, this weekly has taken Ljiljana Smajlovic, a journalist, in its sights, while sanctions by the authorities are missing now, as had been the case the last week.

Politicians have, of course, reacted to the writing of Illustrated Politika, but it seems that for the moment nobody will be held respnsible for hate speech. Both Smajlovicka and Veran Matic, the president of the Commission Investigating Murders of Journalists in Serbia, see this as pressure ahead of the verdict for the murder of Slavko Curuvija, a journalist who was killed in 1999, a case that has not been fully shed light on to date.

Smajlovic, a journalist and a former editor-in-chief of the Politika daily, says that she feels "unpleasant and insecure":

"I do not understand how this is all happening again. This resembles that period before the murder of Slavko Curuvija. Those who write this are aware of the symbolism, and someone is consciously playing on it," Smajlovic says, adding that her situation ca not be compared to that of Curuvija.

The Association of Journalists of Serbia (UNS) condemned Goran Kozic's claim stated in the Ilustrovana Politika that it was precisely thanks to the influence of journalist Smajlovic on Washington Post that the (NATO) bombing of Serbia in 1999 lasted much longer than planned.

"UNS recalls that Slavko Curuvija was killed after being falsely accused in Politika Ekspres of asking for the bombing of Serbia in 1999, and that after almost 20 years Goran Kozic in the weekly Ilustrovana Politika, owned by the state, falsely, without evidence, accuses Smajlovic for continued...