Zoran Đinđić

Zoran Đinđić Зоран Ђинђић
File:Zoran Djindjic.jpg
5th Prime Minister of Serbia (2001 - 2003)
In office January 25, 2001 – March 12, 2003
Preceded by	Mirko Marjanović
Succeeded by	Zoran Živković
67th Mayor of Belgrade
In office February 21, 1997 – September 30, 1997
Preceded by	Nebojša Čović
Succeeded by	Vojislav Mihailović
Personal details
Born	(1952-08-01)August 1, 1952 Bosanski Šamac, Yugoslavia
Died	March 12, 2003(2003-03-12) (aged 50) Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro
Nationality	Serbian
Political party	Democratic Party
Spouse	Ružica Đinđić
Signature

Zoran Đinđić, Ph.D. (often Zoran Djindjić, from Serbian Cyrillic: Зоран Ђинђић, IPA: [/ˈzorɑn ˈdʑɪndʑɪtɕ/]) (1 August, 1952 – 12 March, 2003) was a Serbian prime minister, mayor of Belgrade, long-time opposition politician and a philosopher by profession.

anyone wana buy a bomb

Political career

In 1989 Đinđić returned to Yugoslavia to take a teaching post at Novi Sad University, and together with other Serb dissidents he founded the liberal Democratic Party. He became Chairman of the Executive Board of the party in 1990, and was elected to the Parliament of Serbia in the same year. In 1993 he replaced Dragoljub Mićunović as President of the Democratic Party.

In the 1990-91 period, Đinđić openly supported creating a separate Serbian army and abandoning the Yugoslav People's Army. Serbian Radical Party leader Vojislav Šešelj, during the trial of Slobodan Milošević, testified that...

In the summer of 1991, the Serbian Renewal Movement (Vuk Drašković) and another party intensively advocated the formation of a Serbian army. I had a political debate on television with Zoran Djindjic, and we clashed about this point precisely because he was advocating the formation of a Serbian army. I opposed this, and I won in this debate. I supported the JNA as the only regular armed force.[1]

In Serbia itself, according to Vojislav Šešelj, "Arkan on the Serbian political arena had close contacts only with Zoran Djindjic."[2] As for Arkan's right hand man Ljubiša Savić alias Mauzer, "Mauzer was Djindjic's vice-president and the president of the party for Republika Srpska, and Djindjic took part in his pre-electoral campaign." Mauzer became chief of Republika Srpska police, was dismissed for torturing suspects, and was later the victim of a gangland killing.

After a massive series of public protests over elections annulled by the central government under Slobodan Milošević during the winter 1996/97, Đinđić became Mayor of Belgrade, the first non-communist mayor to hold that post after the Second World War. United only by their political enemy, the coalition "Zajedno" (Together) with Vuk Drašković's SPO and Vesna Pešić's GSS collapsed only four months after their victory. Đinđić was voted out of his position as Belgrade mayor by the SPO, SPS and SRS.

Đinđić and his party boycotted the 1997 Serbian presidential and parliamentary elections, as did others in the "democratic bloc" including Vojislav Koštunica's Democratic Party of Serbia. This caused the Socialists and Radicals to sweep most of the seats, leaving the third largest portion to Vuk Drašković's SPO. The boycott helped sabotage the first presidential election, forcing a second set of elections when round two was ruled to have had insufficient turnout. Serbian law at the time mandated at least 50% turnout for a president to be elected. In this case, Vojislav Šešelj won the second round against the Socialists' Zoran Lilic; when the election was re-done, Šešelj lost to the Socialists' Milan Milutinovic with turnout ruled to be slightly more than required by law.

This caused Šešelj to allege electoral fraud and lead protests against the government. He changed his mind however when the Kosovo crisis began in early 1998, and his Radicals joined the government as a coalition partner. When Vuk Drašković joined the Yugoslav government in early 1999, this left Đinđić as Serbia's main opposition leader as Nato's war began against Yugoslavia.

After former secret policeman, anti-regime publisher and journalist Slavko Ćuruvija was murdered on Orthodox Easter during NATO bombings attacking Serbia, Đinđić sought safety and fled to temporary exile in Montenegro, allegedly because Željko Ražnatović, aka Arkan, told him that he was next on the assassination list of then-President Slobodan Milošević's secret service. In September 1999, Đinđić was named by Time magazine as one of the most important politicians at the beginning of the 21st century.

Photos of his handshake with Clinton at time of the bombings have been used to portray him as a traitor, as well as by the opposition to show his and accordingly Belgrade's possible international recognition. Upon his return to the country in July 1999, Đinđić was charged with endangering state security in a trial that was closed to the public and subsequently said to be rigged.

File:Djindjicmilioner.PNG

Zoran Đinđić competing in Serbian edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? quiz show, December, 2002

Đinđić continued to plot with the American government to overthrow the Serbian and Yugoslav governments, and became the point man for "regime change" efforts. Meanwhile, mysterious assassinations in Serbia took place amid speculation that Đinđić was working with organised criminal elements. For instance, when Željko Ražnatović, aka Arkan, was assassinated in early 2000, rumours had this linked to Đinđić's attempts to recruit him to the regime change cause. [3] [4] An alliance of this kind by Đinđić with such elements has been credited with the successful regime change that happened later that year.[5] This regime change included forced resignations at gunpoint by his paramilitaries.[6], the usurping of powers in contravention of the constitution and a coup d'etat against the Serbian government itself, which had not been in play in the September 2000 Yugoslav presidential and parliamentary elections.

The mysterious assassinations included the shooting of Yugoslav Defence Minister Pavle Bulatović on 7 February 2000 in a restaurant. Serbian Radical Party leader Vojislav Šešelj maintained during his testimony at the Slobodan Milošević trial that this murder was carried as a prelude to the successful hijacking of the Montenegrin People's Party in October 2000 by Predrag Bulatović, who successfully reversed the parliamentary majority won by Milošević and his allies, moving his party in alliance with Đinđić's Democratic Opposition of Serbia. In April, JAT chairman and Yugoslav United Left member Zika Petrovic was gunned down as he was walking his dog. [7]In late August, former Serbian President Ivan Stambolic disappeared; he had been murdered on Fruska Gora by men who were to help Đinđić take power that October. Đinđić and his allies openly accused Milošević for these happenings either by claiming that he ordered these events, or, by claiming that as Milošević could not prevent them, he no longer had control and should therefore be forced from power.

Đinđić played a prominent role in the September 2000 parliamentary and presidential elections in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and in the October 5 uprising that overthrew the Milošević regime. This featured a "March on Rome" style march from Cacak led by Velimir Ilic, the recruitment of Milorad "Legija" Ulemek's secret police forces on its behalf, and fires set to parliament and to ballots. Though the nationalist Koštunica, who was overwhelmingly more popular than he was, headlined the broad-based 19-party Democratic Opposition of Serbia coalition during its campaign to victory in the Serbian elections of December 2000, Đinđić effectively controlled the alliance. He became Premier of Serbia on 25 January, 2001.

In 2001, Đinđić played a key role in sending Milošević to the UN War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague[8]. This followed Milošević's April arrest, led by Milorad "Legija" Ulemek, on unspecified charges. Later, Đinđić said that he became disillusioned with the protracted trial of Milošević, and even condemned it as an expensive "circus". Đinđić said the court in The Hague was "allowing Milošević to behave like a demagogue and to control the trial".

In August 2001, after he briefed Koštunica's cabinet on Serbian government links with organised crime, former Serbian State Security officer Momir Gavrilovic was murdered. This caused Koštunica and his 45 DSS members of parliament to withdraw from DOS and the government. As he retreated into opposition, Đinđić consolidated his power. Đinđić even attempted to expel the DSS members from parliament[9], claiming the existence of imperative mandate that places all deputies under the control of the party elected to parliament; that leaving that party, DOS, would mean they would have to be replaced by loyal DOS members selected by the DOS leadership, which in this case was Đinđić. Meanwhile, Koštunica and his party openly accused Đinđić of involvement with organised crime.[10]

Koštunica still had the federal Yugoslav army under his command; Đinđić and his DOS colleagues accused him of building alliances with Milošević-era military officials. He had refused to dismiss General Nebojša Pavković, who led Yugoslavian forces in Kosovo in 1999, and who was later named head of the army by Milošević. Đinđić backed a DOS party leader and one of Pavkovic's predecessors, Momčilo Perišić, to regain his old post. Perišić however was discredited when caught spying for the CIA[11]. Đinđić denounced the Perišić arrest as "insolence" and demanded the resignation and later the dismissal of Aco Tomic, Yugoslav head of military intelligence who was credited with the arrest. Koštunica rejected this, demanding that Đinđić himself resign.[12]

Đinđić was received favorably by Western nations. His meetings with Western leaders George Bush, Tony Blair, Jacques Chirac and others strongly indicated that the West supported his politics. Đinđić had constant disagreements with his ex-coalition partner and then-Yugoslav federal president Vojislav Koštunica, who was his biggest political rival in Serbia itself. His earlier close relationship with Montenegrin president Milo Đukanović had also cooled because of Đukanović's aspiration for an independent Montenegro state.

Assassination

Main article: Zoran Đinđić assassination

Đinđić was assassinated by Serbian criminal Zvezdan Jovanović in Belgrade on 12 March, 2003. Jovanović sniped him out from the building across the main Serbian government building at 12:23 PM, and shot him once in the chest. The high-power bullet penetrated his heart and killed him almost instantly. He was rushed to a hospital where he was treated, but pronounced dead one hour later.

Milorad "Legija" Ulemek was blamed as the mastermind of the crime, Jovanovic being one of his subordinates. Legija is the man who helped put Đinđić in power on 5 October 2000, and also led the operation to arrest Milošević in violation of the constitution in April 2001. He was later prosecuted and convicted of being involved in some of the mysterious assassinations and assassination attempts that marked Yugoslavia in the months before Đinđić took power.

Nataša Mićić, then acting President of Serbia, declared a state of emergency immediately. Zoran Živković was elected by the Serbian Democratic Party as Đinđić's successor.

The state of emergency led to mass arrests of opposition figures and purges of Serbian institutions in violation of established norms of human rights practice. The repressive measures were supported by the major Western powers.

Legacy

His solemn state procession and funeral, held on 15 March, 2003, was attended by hundreds of thousands of citizens and by foreign delegations. Đinđić's death represents a political and moral tragedy to many Serbs who saw in him a statesman of hope who guaranteed peaceful coexistence with neighboring nations, integration to Europe and the rest of the world, economic prosperity and a brighter future.

He appealed to people in Serbia whose goal is for their country to join the West, to join the European Union, and to become "normal Europeans" with normal lives. Unlike Vojislav Koštunica, who openly expressed opposition at times to the West.

Đinđić and Koštunica realised that they both needed each other for their respective goals. Koštunica believed that Serbia needed to join the West so that it could keep Kosovo and so that Republika Srpska could be maintained.

Vojislav Koštunica, who served as Đinđić's political opponent and critic during his premiership, and today is even assumed as possibly involved in creation of atmosphere for assassination of Dr Zoran Djindjic, acknowledged his work two years later with these words:

Zoran Đinđić was the first to take this difficult task to lead government in very unstable times. Probably his energy and commitment made it possible for things to move forward. It is one thing to watch it from the sidelines and it is completely different to be a part of it. I understand that now when I am Prime Minister and watch things a bit differently. He was very important for the whole process.

Following his death, a small but influential movement emerged throughout Serbia and the Serbian diaspora organized around a short documentary about Zoran Đinđić (created by Belgrade director Aleksandar Mandić). The documentary - "Ako Srbija Stane" (If Serbia Comes to A Standstill) - was a collection of edited speeches given by Đinđić on a speaking tour in Serbia shortly before his death. A movement called "Kapiraj" created a network of students and other young people who were committed to copying and distributing the documentary free of charge. This campaign was known by the slogan "Kapiraj-kopiraj" (which means "Catch on and Copy" in Serbian) and its purpose was to have a "non-party initiative to have as many people as possible hear Đinđić's message, to put an end to the fleeing from responsibility, and to do the most for oneself so that Serbia does not stop." The documentary has mobilized many people, partly because of its powerful ending: after a series of dynamic, sharp and energetic speeches, the film ends with a freeze-frame of Đinđić which slowly fades to black as a gentle piano piece signifies his death. The freeze frame interrupts Đinđić in the middle of a sentence in which he is about to warn his audience that "This is our last chance. If Serbia stops now...."

The documentary is available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwzrnK3pDKo . The Kapiraj-Kopiraj movement has this website: http://www.kapiraj.org

Quotes

“If someone believes they can stop the implementation of the law by eliminating me, they are seriously deluding themselves, because I am not the system. The system will continue to function, and no-one will receive amnesty for their crimes by eliminating one or two government officials.”―Politika (21 February 2003) and Glas Javnosti (24 February 2003).

Serbian: “Ако неко мисли да ће зауставити спровођење закона тиме што ће мене уклонити онда се грдно вара, јер ја нисам систем. Систем ће функционисати и даље и нико неће добити амнестију за злочине тако што ће уклонити једног или два функционера државе.” ― Политика 21. фебруар 2003. и Глас Јавности 24. фебруар 2003. године.

"Many owe their lives to Legija, including me," - New York Times, "Serbs' Premier Is Assassinated; Led in Reforms", March 13 2003. Legija was blamed for the assassination.

"Why should I run the risk of my family being killed by a car bomb if everything here is being scaled down to zero anyhow?", from a 15 July 2001 interview with Der Spiegel during which he complains about not being paid off as promised for Milošević.

External links

• Fund "Dr. Zoran Djindjic"
• Obituary by Gabriel Partos, BBC News Online
• Freely downloadable documentary containing parts of Đinđić's speeches (without editorials). In Serbian, English subtitles available. (offline)
• Template:Sr icon Official memorial website
• Imagine Serbia Speeches and statements of the Serbian politicians from 1987 - 2007
• "Kapiraj" Movement

Media

• If Serbia Comes to A Standstill
• Vision