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Alert

Journalist killed

(RSF/IFEX) - In a letter to Minister of the Interior Dusan Mihajlovic, RSF expressed indignation over the assassination of Milan Pantic, journalist with the Begrade daily "Vecernje Novosti". He was found dead in from of his home on 11 June 2001, after being violently hit in the head by unknown individuals.




"The authors of this cowardly murder must be identified. Milan Pantic had just published a series of articles that can help orient the invetigation," declared Robert Ménard, secretary-general of the organisation. "We ask you to put the necessary measures into place to ensure that the journalist's murderers are found quickly. We also ask you to keep us up to date on any advances in the investigation."

According to information obtained by RSF, Pantic, the correspondent in Jagodina (central Serbia, 140 km south of Belgrade) for the Belgrade daily "Vecernje Novosti", was found murdered in the morning of 11 June, in front of his home. According to the town's public prosecutor's office, he was dealt a mortal blow to the head by blunt object. The journalist had recently published a series of articles on serious crime in the Jagodina region.

Pantic is the first journalist to be killed in Serbia since the fall of the Slobodan Milosevic regime on 5 October 2000.