Silvije Degen (born 15 June 1942 in

Bjelovar Bjelovar ( hu, Belovár, german: Bellowar, Kajkavian: ''Belovar'') is a city in central Croatia. It is the administrative centre of Bjelovar-Bilogora County. At the 2021 census, there were 36,433 inhabitants, of whom 93.06% were Croats. History ...

) is a

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

n lawyer and politician from

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

. Silvije Degen, a native of Zagreb, in 1980s became one of the best known lawyers in

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

. This was due to his impeccable fashion sense and tendency to take high-profile criminal cases, best known being the trial of

Andrija Artuković Andrija Artuković (19 November 1899 – 16 January 1988) was a Croatian lawyer, politician, and senior member of the ultranationalist and fascist Ustasha movement, who served as the Minister of Internal Affairs and Minister of Justice in ...

, whom he defended unsuccessfully. In the early 1990s Degen entered politics, becoming a leader of the

Socialist Party of Croatia Socialist Party of Croatia ( Croatian: ''Socijalistička stranka Hrvatske'' or ''Socijalistički savez Hrvatske - Savez socijalista Hrvatske'', ''SSH'') was a left-wing political party in Croatia. Before the arrival of multi-party democracy to Cr ...

. As such, he made a minor upset in the

1992 Croatian presidential election Presidential elections were held in Croatia for the first time on 2 August 1992 alongside simultaneous parliamentary elections.Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p410 The result was a victory for incum ...

, by finishing fifth with 108,979 or 4.07% of the vote.

References

1942 births Living people People from Bjelovar Croatian lawyers Candidates in the 1992 Croatian presidential election Socialist Party of Croatia politicians {{Croatia-politician-stub