Missing Serbian Journalist Found ’Alive and Well’
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Missing journalist Stefan Cvetkovic. Photo: Medija centar |
President Aleksandar Vucic said on Friday that Cvetkovic has been found unharmed, and that the investigation into his disappearance had found that many of the hints that suggested he had been kidnapped appeared to have been staged.
“I wish to inform citizens that Stefan Cvetkovic is in our hands, alive and well. He is with the police, and he will stay there for a long time as he has a lot of explaining to do,” Vucic told a press conference in Belgrade.
Cvetkovic vanished earlier this week after claiming earlier this year to have uncovered fresh details about the murder of the Kosovo Serb politician Oliver Ivanovic.
His car was found with open doors and its lights turned on, with a wristwatch lying nearby.
However, Vucic said that the investigation found no signs of a struggle at the scene of Cvetkovic’s apparent disappearance and that sniffer dogs did not scent blood.
He added that the investigation will reveal whether there was anyone else involved in the incident.
The Serbian Interior Ministry said on Thursday that it had deployed several dozen members of the special Gendarmerie police unit along with divers, search dogs, and two helicopters to help find Cvetkovic.
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| The Serbian Interior Ministry had deployed several dozen members of the special Gendarmerie police unit along with divers, search dogs, and two helicopters to help find Cvetkovic. Photo: BIRN |
The search was suspended during the night, but continued early on Friday.
Cvetkovic told a press conference in February that the assassination of Kosovo Serb political party leader Oliver Ivanovic was paid for, at a cost of 40,000 euros. He also showed photos of people allegedly involved in the murder.
Ivanovic was killed in a drive-by shooting in north Mitrovica in Kosovo in January. A fierce champion of the Serbian minority in Kosovo, he had, however, clashed with Serbia’s ruling party – resulting in conflicting theories about who was behind his murder.
Cvetkovic, who ran a website/blog called Belocrkvanske Novosti, had complained over the years of receiving various threats from politicians and oligarchs related to his work.
N1 television on Thursday published a list of all such threats registered with the Serbian Journalists’ Association and with the OSCE.
In May, for example, Cvetkovic had reportedly received a death threat if he continued to report on “things he should not report on”.
This threat was apparently related to his reports about high-strength marijuana production in Bela Crkva. One man was convicted by the courts over the incident.
In December 2016, Cvetkovic reported having found a message in his car reading “Dead”.
In January the same year, according to N1, Cvetkovic was attacked by a local politician in Bela Crkva.
In December 2015, he reported finding his car crashed, while the same year he also reported threats received via his phone.
In March 2017, Cvetkovic was himself sentenced to two years and three months in jail after several ruling Progressive Party officials sued him for defamation. The courts annulled the sentence in April this year, however.
Concern about his disappearance was expressed on Thursday by both Serbian and international journalists’ associations.
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