30. 11. 2004

POLICE ON TRIAL FOR JOURNALIST ARRESTS

POZAREVAC, November 30, 2004 - Five former senior police officers will appear in court in Pozarevac on Tuesday over the arrest of journalists on May 8 and 9, 2000. Local public prosecutor Miroslav Vojinvoic sought the indictment of former Pozarevac police chief Radisa Jovic, former Criminal Division chief Velimir Ivanovic, former Police Division chief Dragan Milenkovic and the former commander of the Pozarevac police station, Nikola Kaurin. All have been charged by the Pozarevac Municipal Criminal Court with the illegal arrest of daily Danas journalists Bojan Toncic and Natasa Bogovic and Beta correspondent Mile Veljkovic. The journalists were arrested before a "Stop the Terror" rally organised by the then opposition in Pozarevac as a protest against the arrest and beating of Otpor activists Momcilo Veljkovic, Radojko Lukovic and Nebojsa Sokolovic. After the journalists were arrested, Mile Veljkovic spent 22 hours in custody in the Mali Crnic police station while Toncic and Bogovic were kept for 16 hours in the police station in Zabari. The first hearing comes one year after the indictment of these former senior police officers from the home town of Slobodan Milosevic and his wife Mirjana Markovic. In the meantime the trial has been adjourned several times because the defendants did not appear.