Journalists Bojana Jovanović, Milica Vojinović, and Stevan Dojčinović from KRIK won the second prize for the national investigative journalism award ‘Dejan Anastasijević’, given by the Independent Journalists Association of Serbia (IJAS). KRIK team has received the award for their story „Gendarme Vučković Issued Orders to Criminals, Destroyed the Cell Phones of a Notorious Criminal After His Murder“.
Written by: Tamara Todorović
In the awarded story, KRIK revealed how high-ranking police officer Nenad Vučković Vučko commanded and directed a hooligan-criminal group led by Aleksandar Stanković (also known as Sale Mutavi), and later by Veljko Belivuk. KRIK also discovered that a few days after Stanković’s murder Vučković destroyed his cell phones.
The first prize went to BIRN journalists Gordana Andrić and Aleksandar Đorđević for their story “Fake Payments, Fictitious Lectures: How Millions of Euros for the Vulnerable Ended Up in Other People’s Pockets” while the third prize went to the CINS newsroom for the article “CINS in SNS Call Center: Hostess Agency, Vote Buying, and Millions in Cash” by Ivana Milosavljević, Teodora Ćurčić and Vladimir Kostić.
The same story by CINS also received the audience award, while two special mentions were given to Stefan Marković and Jovana Tomić from CINS for their podcast series “Traces,” as well as to journalists Dragana Prica Kovačević, Teodora Ćurčić and Gordana Andrić for their investigation “Domestic Violence Against Children: Invisible Victims” published on the BIRN website.
This is the third time KRIK journalists have received the IJAS investigative journalism award. They first won in 2016 for a series of articles on the 24 apartments owned by then-Belgrade mayor Siniša Mali in Bulgaria, and in 2018 for an investigative story about the apartment of then-Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin and the “Aunt from Canada” case.
Since 2005, in cooperation with the US embassy, IJAS has been awarding prizes for investigative journalistic work that cover topics of exceptional importance to citizens and uncover unknown facts.
Since 2020, this recognition has been carrying the name of Dejan Anastasijević, a long-time journalist of the weekly “Vreme,” who is remembered for his investigations into war crimes and organized crime.
Read this year’s award-winning KRIK article: „Gendarme Vučković Issued Orders to Criminals, Destroyed the Cell Phones of a Notorious Criminal After His Murder“