Matej Šurc and Blaž Zgaga from Slovenia spent several years working on a trilogy of books about the illegal arms trade during the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s. Even before the third and final book in the trilogy was published, the team had been recognised for their work.
At the Southeast Europe Media Forum organised by the Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) and the Central European Initiative (CEI) in Belgrade the team was received a special diploma for investigative journalism.
The jury praised their research and awarded them the diploma in recognition of their investigative work on the arms trade in Slovenia in 1990. This work was based on consistent research into arms deals, supported by numerous documents and verified by credible sources as well as on a cross-border investigative cooperation, which added value to the story as a whole.”
The Slovene team collaborated with Saša Leković from Croatia and Ećad Hecimović from Bosnia and Herzegovina, both of whom published their work individually in their respective countries.
Journalismfund supported the Slovenian team, while Scoop, a Danish support structure covering the non-EU Balkan countries, supported the part of the team that was working outside EU countries.
You can read more about the stories and the research conducted by the award-winning team and their partners in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia on Journalismfund's website and the EUobserver website.
