Slavko Curuvija
Encyclopedia
Slavko Ćuruvija was a Serbian journalist and newspaper publisher. His brutal murder on 11 April 1999 in Belgrade, Serbia provoked international outrage and wide condemnation. It is still not known exactly who carried out the assassination, nor who ordered it.
In the years since his killing, his murder has become one of the widely cited examples of Slobodan Milošević
's government's alleged brutality.
Slavko was born in Zagreb, Croatia on 9 August 1949 and was murdered on 11 April 1999 in Belgrade, Serbia.
's Faculty of Political Sciences, Ćuruvija found employment as a business secretary and PR assistant at Mašinogradnja company in Belgrade
. He soon became the contributor to Zagreb's Danas weekly magazine, as well as to the Social Research Center (Centar za drustvena istrazivanja).
Between 1984 and 1986, he worked as an analyst in Federal Interior Secretariat and State Security.
: initially as commentator, then advancing to the position of domestic political section editor, and eventually becoming Borbas editor-in-chief. He stayed with the daily paper until 1994 while regularly contributing to Komunist, Vjesnik
, NIN
, Večernji list
, Nedelja, Pobjeda
, TV Belgrade
, TV Politika, TV Sarajevo, and some foreign publications.
In 1994, after the regime's unofficial takeover at Borba
, Ćuruvija, along with many other staffers decided to leave the daily. While some of them quickly reconvened to form Naša borba, Ćuruvija took another career route, hooking up with Momčilo Đorgović to create Nedeljni telegraf - a weekly tabloid newspaper. In 1996, the duo founded Dnevni telegraf
- Serbia's first privately owned daily in more than 50 years. Ćuruvija was DT
s director and editor-in-chief, and eventually, after splitting with Đorgović, its sole owner.
In 1998, Ćuruvija additionally started a bi-weekly magazine Evropljanin
where he gathered some notable names of Serbian journalism such as Aleksandar Tijanić
, Ljiljana Smajlović
, and Dragan Bujosevic.
, wife of Serbian strongman Slobodan Milošević
. Not many specific, established details that would indicate the extent of their relationship are publicly accessible. Most come from second or third hand accounts.
In RTS
produced 2006 TV documentary Kad režim strelja, Aleksandar Tijanić
refers to it as a "non-aggression pact between Mira and Slavko allowing him access to many relevant pieces of information that ultimately greatly increased Dnevni telegraf
s readership", while Ćuruvija's common-law wife Branka Prpa
who was with him at the time of his murder attaches less significance to this friendship saying that it "revolved around conversations that many other journalists engaged in with Mira Marković hoping to manipulate her into revealing more than she'd originally planned". Prpa went on to add: "However, I think they became the ones being manipulated as the time went on".
, the threat of NATO bombing was hanging over everyone's head, and both of Ćuruvija's publications reported extensively on all of these issues, all of which earned Dnevni telegraf
a ban on 14 October 1998 under a special new decree.
Furious with the new developments, Ćuruvija demanded to see Mira Marković and a meeting was arranged at her party's (Yugoslav Left
) offices during the week Dnevni telegraf
was banned as the new Information Law was being prepared. The meeting, reportedly quickly turned into a heated exchange.
According to Predrag Popović's book Oni ne prastaju (written from the author's subsequent interviews with Slavko), Ćuruvija was shouting: "What the hell do you think you're doing. If you continue down this crazy path, you can be sure you'll all be hanging off lamp posts in Terazije
".
Visibly flustered Mira, reportedly responded: "How can you say that Slavko, after all we've allowed you".
Slavko's later comment was also published in the book: "Evidently she thought she'd done me a great favour by allowing me to live a normal life and publish newspapers all those years".
The meeting, their last ever, ended with Ćuruvija saying: "Say hello to your husband for me." To which visibly shook up Mira responded: "I will not do that, but I will tell him everything you said."
People who happened to be in the building said Mirjana Marković
was crying after the meeting.
In April 2006 piece on B92 TV
, commemorating 7 years since the unsolved Ćuruvija murder case, Branka Prpa recounted few more details of the Ćuruvija-Marković exchange: "He was shouting 'What are you doing this for? You're going to cause a widespread war!' Mira then told him 'Oh, so you want them to bomb us.' He responded 'Well, maybe they should bomb you, it's the only way for us to finally get you out of power!".http://www.b92.net/info/emisije/istrazuje.php?yyyy=2006&mm=04&nav_id=194699
co-written with Aleksandar Tijanić
.http://www.ex-yupress.com/dtelegraf/evroplj1.html The issue came out on 19 October 1998 - one day before the infamous Information Law was passed, which didn't stop the authorities from putting Ćuruvija and his paper on trial 4 days later and persecuting them using that law. The culmination of the day-long trial was a crippling DM350,000 fine.
In the years since his killing, his murder has become one of the widely cited examples of Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević was President of Serbia and Yugoslavia. He served as the President of Socialist Republic of Serbia and Republic of Serbia from 1989 until 1997 in three terms and as President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000...
's government's alleged brutality.
Slavko was born in Zagreb, Croatia on 9 August 1949 and was murdered on 11 April 1999 in Belgrade, Serbia.
Early career
After graduating from University of BelgradeUniversity of Belgrade
The University of Belgrade is the oldest and largest university of Serbia.Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it merged with the Kragujevac-based departments into a single university...
's Faculty of Political Sciences, Ćuruvija found employment as a business secretary and PR assistant at Mašinogradnja company in Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
. He soon became the contributor to Zagreb's Danas weekly magazine, as well as to the Social Research Center (Centar za drustvena istrazivanja).
Between 1984 and 1986, he worked as an analyst in Federal Interior Secretariat and State Security.
Career in journalism
In 1986, Ćuruvija joined the staff of BorbaBorba (newspaper)
Borba is a Serbian newspaper, formerly the official newspaper of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia...
: initially as commentator, then advancing to the position of domestic political section editor, and eventually becoming Borbas editor-in-chief. He stayed with the daily paper until 1994 while regularly contributing to Komunist, Vjesnik
Vjesnik
Vjesnik is a Croatian daily newspaper, published in Zagreb. Through its history, it has been considered a newspaper of record.The paper was originally printed as a monthly publication by the League of Communists of Croatia starting in 1940...
, NIN
NIN (magazine)
NIN is a weekly newsmagazine published in Belgrade, Serbia. Its name is an acronym for Nedeljne informativne novine which roughly translates into Weekly Informational Newspaper....
, Večernji list
Vecernji list
Večernji list is a Croatian daily newspaper published in Zagreb.The newspaper was started in the 1950s and it is today one of two largest daily newspapers in Croatia...
, Nedelja, Pobjeda
Pobjeda
Pobjeda is a Montenegrin newspaper. Having been published for 66 years, it is the oldest Montenegrin newspaper still in circulation. It is the oldest Montenegrin active media, too....
, TV Belgrade
Radio Television of Serbia
Radio Television of Serbia or Serbian Broadcasting Corporation is the public broadcaster in Serbia. It broadcasts and produces a variety of news, drama, and sports programming through radio, television and the Internet. RTS is, since July 2001, a member of the European Broadcasting Union. RTS is...
, TV Politika, TV Sarajevo, and some foreign publications.
In 1994, after the regime's unofficial takeover at Borba
Borba (newspaper)
Borba is a Serbian newspaper, formerly the official newspaper of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia...
, Ćuruvija, along with many other staffers decided to leave the daily. While some of them quickly reconvened to form Naša borba, Ćuruvija took another career route, hooking up with Momčilo Đorgović to create Nedeljni telegraf - a weekly tabloid newspaper. In 1996, the duo founded Dnevni telegraf
Dnevni telegraf
Dnevni telegraf was a Serbian daily tabloid newspaper published in Belgrade between 1996 and November 1998, and then also for a short time in Podgorica until March 1999. It was the first privately owned daily in Serbia after more than 50 years of across-the-board public ownership under communism...
- Serbia's first privately owned daily in more than 50 years. Ćuruvija was DT
Dnevni telegraf
Dnevni telegraf was a Serbian daily tabloid newspaper published in Belgrade between 1996 and November 1998, and then also for a short time in Podgorica until March 1999. It was the first privately owned daily in Serbia after more than 50 years of across-the-board public ownership under communism...
s director and editor-in-chief, and eventually, after splitting with Đorgović, its sole owner.
In 1998, Ćuruvija additionally started a bi-weekly magazine Evropljanin
Evropljanin
Evropljanin was a bi-weekly newsmagazine published in Serbia during the late 1990s. It was started in April 1998, visually modeled after the German newsmagazine Focus....
where he gathered some notable names of Serbian journalism such as Aleksandar Tijanić
Aleksandar Tijanic
Aleksandar Tijanić , Serbian journalist and current national TV director, was born in Đakovica, FPR Yugoslavia on 13 December 1950...
, Ljiljana Smajlović
Ljiljana Smajlovic
Ljiljana Smajlović is a Serbian journalist.-Early life:...
, and Dragan Bujosevic.
Initial friendship...
Both Ćuruvija-owned publications undeniably benefited from his access to Mirjana MarkovićMirjana Markovic
Mirjana "Mira" Marković is the leader of the Yugoslav Left political party and the widow and childhood friend of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milošević.-Personal life:...
, wife of Serbian strongman Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević was President of Serbia and Yugoslavia. He served as the President of Socialist Republic of Serbia and Republic of Serbia from 1989 until 1997 in three terms and as President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000...
. Not many specific, established details that would indicate the extent of their relationship are publicly accessible. Most come from second or third hand accounts.
In RTS
Radio Television of Serbia
Radio Television of Serbia or Serbian Broadcasting Corporation is the public broadcaster in Serbia. It broadcasts and produces a variety of news, drama, and sports programming through radio, television and the Internet. RTS is, since July 2001, a member of the European Broadcasting Union. RTS is...
produced 2006 TV documentary Kad režim strelja, Aleksandar Tijanić
Aleksandar Tijanic
Aleksandar Tijanić , Serbian journalist and current national TV director, was born in Đakovica, FPR Yugoslavia on 13 December 1950...
refers to it as a "non-aggression pact between Mira and Slavko allowing him access to many relevant pieces of information that ultimately greatly increased Dnevni telegraf
Dnevni telegraf
Dnevni telegraf was a Serbian daily tabloid newspaper published in Belgrade between 1996 and November 1998, and then also for a short time in Podgorica until March 1999. It was the first privately owned daily in Serbia after more than 50 years of across-the-board public ownership under communism...
s readership", while Ćuruvija's common-law wife Branka Prpa
Branka Prpa
Branka Prpa is a historian, author, and current director of Belgrade's Historical Archives ....
who was with him at the time of his murder attaches less significance to this friendship saying that it "revolved around conversations that many other journalists engaged in with Mira Marković hoping to manipulate her into revealing more than she'd originally planned". Prpa went on to add: "However, I think they became the ones being manipulated as the time went on".
...and subsequent fallout with Mira Marković
Whatever it was, their relationship was deteriorating by the day in late summer and early fall of 1998. Yugoslav army and Serbian police were in various stages of a crackdown on ethnic Albanian guerrillas in KosovoKosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
, the threat of NATO bombing was hanging over everyone's head, and both of Ćuruvija's publications reported extensively on all of these issues, all of which earned Dnevni telegraf
Dnevni telegraf
Dnevni telegraf was a Serbian daily tabloid newspaper published in Belgrade between 1996 and November 1998, and then also for a short time in Podgorica until March 1999. It was the first privately owned daily in Serbia after more than 50 years of across-the-board public ownership under communism...
a ban on 14 October 1998 under a special new decree.
Furious with the new developments, Ćuruvija demanded to see Mira Marković and a meeting was arranged at her party's (Yugoslav Left
Yugoslav Left
Yugoslav Left was a left-wing political party in Serbia and Montenegro. It was formed in 1994 as is a coalition of 23 left-wing and communist parties, led by the League of Communists - Movement for Yugoslavia . It has been led by Mirjana Marković, the wife of Slobodan Milošević...
) offices during the week Dnevni telegraf
Dnevni telegraf
Dnevni telegraf was a Serbian daily tabloid newspaper published in Belgrade between 1996 and November 1998, and then also for a short time in Podgorica until March 1999. It was the first privately owned daily in Serbia after more than 50 years of across-the-board public ownership under communism...
was banned as the new Information Law was being prepared. The meeting, reportedly quickly turned into a heated exchange.
According to Predrag Popović's book Oni ne prastaju (written from the author's subsequent interviews with Slavko), Ćuruvija was shouting: "What the hell do you think you're doing. If you continue down this crazy path, you can be sure you'll all be hanging off lamp posts in Terazije
Terazije
Terazije is the central square and an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in the Belgrade municipality of Stari Grad.- Location :...
".
Visibly flustered Mira, reportedly responded: "How can you say that Slavko, after all we've allowed you".
Slavko's later comment was also published in the book: "Evidently she thought she'd done me a great favour by allowing me to live a normal life and publish newspapers all those years".
The meeting, their last ever, ended with Ćuruvija saying: "Say hello to your husband for me." To which visibly shook up Mira responded: "I will not do that, but I will tell him everything you said."
People who happened to be in the building said Mirjana Marković
Mirjana Markovic
Mirjana "Mira" Marković is the leader of the Yugoslav Left political party and the widow and childhood friend of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milošević.-Personal life:...
was crying after the meeting.
In April 2006 piece on B92 TV
B92
B92 is a radio and television broadcaster with national coverage headquartered in Belgrade, Serbia. The network's key demographic is chiefly urban and young audience. Its programs, including the news cover topics with fairly liberal political painted attitudes...
, commemorating 7 years since the unsolved Ćuruvija murder case, Branka Prpa recounted few more details of the Ćuruvija-Marković exchange: "He was shouting 'What are you doing this for? You're going to cause a widespread war!' Mira then told him 'Oh, so you want them to bomb us.' He responded 'Well, maybe they should bomb you, it's the only way for us to finally get you out of power!".http://www.b92.net/info/emisije/istrazuje.php?yyyy=2006&mm=04&nav_id=194699
Evropljanin trial on 23 October 1998
Ćuruvija's response to the unpleasant exchange was a scathing blast of the ruling couple from the pages of EvropljaninEvropljanin
Evropljanin was a bi-weekly newsmagazine published in Serbia during the late 1990s. It was started in April 1998, visually modeled after the German newsmagazine Focus....
co-written with Aleksandar Tijanić
Aleksandar Tijanic
Aleksandar Tijanić , Serbian journalist and current national TV director, was born in Đakovica, FPR Yugoslavia on 13 December 1950...
.http://www.ex-yupress.com/dtelegraf/evroplj1.html The issue came out on 19 October 1998 - one day before the infamous Information Law was passed, which didn't stop the authorities from putting Ćuruvija and his paper on trial 4 days later and persecuting them using that law. The culmination of the day-long trial was a crippling DM350,000 fine.