Josipa Rimac (; born 25 February 1980) is a Croatian politician who served as Mayor of

Knin Knin (, sr, link=no, Книн, it, link=no, Tenin) is a city in the Šibenik-Knin County of Croatia, located in the Dalmatian hinterland near the source of the river Krka, an important traffic junction on the rail and road routes between Zagr ...

in three terms between 2005 and 2015. She was a member of the main centre-right

Croatian Democratic Union The Croatian Democratic Union ( hr, Hrvatska demokratska zajednica, lit=Croatian Democratic Community, HDZ) is the major conservative, centre-right political party in Croatia. It is one of the two major contemporary political parties in Croa ...

party. Rimac was elected mayor in June 2005 at age 25, making her the youngest mayor in the country since independence in 1991. Born in Lukar (part of Promina municipality), Rimac spending her first four years of schooling in

, until the

Croatian War of Independence The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between Croat forces loyal to the Government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY)—and the Serb-controlled Yugosl ...

broke out in the 1990s. She then went to school in

Rijeka Rijeka ( , , ; also known as Fiume hu, Fiume, it, Fiume ; local Chakavian: ''Reka''; german: Sankt Veit am Flaum; sl, Reka) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located in Primor ...

and

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, enterta ...

, and returned to Knin in October 1995, when the fighting stopped. Rimac studied at the school of economics where she also learned

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

. She also spent a lot of time volunteering for the local

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

in Knin, and in 2000 was named director of the Red Cross in the city of Knin, being the youngest director in the country. In 2005 Rimac was promoted to director of the Red Cross in

Šibenik-Knin County Šibenik-Knin County (; hr, Šibensko-kninska županija ) is a county in southern Croatia, located in the north-central part of Dalmatia. The biggest city in the county is Šibenik, which also serves as county seat. Other notable towns in the co ...

(all of which was volunteer work). She has been involved with politics since school, and became a member of the Croatian Democratic Union. On 10 June 2005, she was elected mayor of Knin. In September 2015, Rimac submitted her resignation to the position of mayor of Knin so she could "participate in the HDZ election campaign for the 2015 parliamentary election." On 25 September 2015,

Croatian Parliament The Croatian Parliament ( hr, Hrvatski sabor) or the Sabor is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of Croatia. Under the terms of the Croatian Constitution, the Sabor represents the people and is vested with legislative power. The Sabor ...

unanimously and without debate took away Rimac's parliamentary immunity thereby allowing the State Attorney's Office (DORH) to continue the investigation against her for suspected illegally acquiring apartment and damaging the state budget for more than 500,000

Croatian kuna The kuna is the currency of Croatia, in use since 1994 (sign: kn; code: HRK). It is subdivided into 100 lipa. The kuna is issued by the Croatian National Bank and the coins are minted by the Croatian Mint. The plural form of the word kuna in Cro ...

s while she served as mayor. In May 2020, Rimac was taken into police custody under charges of corruption. Rimac is married with a daughter Katja (born c. 2002).

References

Josipa Rimac
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rimac, Josipa 1980 births Living people People from Promina, Croatia Croatian Democratic Union politicians Mayors of Knin Women mayors of places in Croatia Representatives in the modern Croatian Parliament Corruption in Croatia