Belgrade Journalist Survives Hand Grenade Attack

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A hand grenade exploded early on Saturday 14 April, outside the home of Dejan Anastasijevic, a prominent journalist with the Belgrade-based Vreme weekly, causing damage but no injuries, according to a police statement.

Anastasijevic is an outspoken critic of the regime of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, testifying against him in 2002 at his trial before the Netherlands-based UN war crimes tribunal. He also reported extensively about war crimes committed by Serb troops in the 1990’s, during the bloody breakup of former Yugoslavia.

Police said they were looking for suspects in the attack that destroyed the window of Anastasijevic’s apartment in downtown Belgrade, and damaged several cars parked outside. No arrests have so far been reported. Anastasijevic was not immediately available for comment.

In 2002, Anastasijevic and his colleague, Jovan Dulovic, also with the Vreme weekly, received death threats after appearing as prosecution witnesses in the Milosevic trial. In a controversial move, both revealed the sources for some of their articles in order to establish that Milosevic had exercised command responsibility during the 1991 siege of the Croatian city of Vukovar. More than 200 people were killed after Vukovar fell to the Yugoslav People‘s Army, with three of its former officers currently standing trial for related war crimes.