Vladimir Leposavić (; born 24 August 1984) is a Montenegrin lawyer and politician who served as the Minister of Justice and Human and Minority Rights in the

Government of Montenegro The Government of Montenegro ( cnr, Vlada Crne Gore, Влада Црне Горе) is the executive branch of state authority in Montenegro. It is headed by the prime minister. It consists of the prime minister, the deputy prime ministers as well ...

and the

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

Zdravko Krivokapić Zdravko Krivokapić ( cyrl, Здравко Кривокапић; born 2 September 1958) is a Montenegrin professor and politician who served as Prime Minister of Montenegro from 2020 to 2022. In addition to his professorship at the Universities ...

from 4 December 2020 to 17 June 2021. Prior to this, he was a senior legal advisor of the

Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral The Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral of the Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr, Митрополија црногорско-приморска Српске православне цркве, Mitropolija crnogorsko-primorska Srpske pravoslav ...

and the

Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro Eastern Orthodoxy in Montenegro refers to adherents, religious communities, institutions and organizations of Eastern Orthodox Christianity in Montenegro. It is the largest Christian denomination in the country. According to the latest census of ...

Early life and law career

Vladimir Leposavić was born on 24 August 1984 in the town of

Bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

, Montenegro which was then part of the

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...

. In 2008, he graduated from the

Faculty of Law, University of Belgrade The Faculty of Law of the University in Belgrade ( sr, Правни факултет Универзитета у Београду/''Pravni fakultet Univerziteta u Beogradu''), also known as the Belgrade Law School, is one of the first-tier educatio ...

. He is a three-time winner of the

University of Belgrade The University of Belgrade ( sr, / ) is a public university in Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia. Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it merged with the Kragujevac-b ...

award for professional work in the field of legal and economic sciences. He received the Robert Schuman Foundation Scholarship Award in 2008 and was also the winner of the prestigious Fulbright Program Scholarship Award for academic and professional results in 2014. As a Fulbright Visiting Researcher, he specialized in the field of international human rights at the

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

Washington College of Law The American University Washington College of Law (AUWCL or WCL) is the law school of American University, a Private university, private research university in Washington, D.C. It is located on the western side of Tenley Circle in the Tenleyto ...

in Washington D.C., and received his doctorate in the field of international protection of minorities in 2016, at the

. In 2006, he served as legal assistant for the

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrati ...

Belgrade office, providing assistance to refugees and internally displaced persons. He provided other legal assistance as a Trainee Solicitor for two Belgrade law firms from 2007 to 2009. Leposavić was a Senior University Lecturer at the Faculty of Law at the

Mediterranean University Mediterranean University ( Montenegrin: Универзитет Медитеран / Univerzitet Mediteran) is a university located in Podgorica, Montenegro. It was founded on 30 May 2006, is the first private university established in Montenegro ...

Podgorica Podgorica (Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Подгорица, ; Literal translation, lit. 'under the hill') is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Montenegro, largest city of Montenegro. The city was formerly known as Titograd ...

from 2009 to 2016 and a law professor at the Union–Nikola Tesla University in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

from 2016 to 2018. During his tenures, he taught Comparative Law and Political Systems,

International Human Rights law International human rights law (IHRL) is the body of international law designed to promote human rights on social, regional, and domestic levels. As a form of international law, international human rights law are primarily made up of treaties, ag ...

European Union law European Union law is a system of rules operating within the member states of the European Union (EU). Since the founding of the European Coal and Steel Community following World War II, the EU has developed the aim to "promote peace, its valu ...

, Sociology of Law, Diplomatic and Consular Law, and

Copyright Law A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...

. In 2019, he was awarded Teacher of the Year for his work as a trainer and licensed mediator for th
National Center for Mediation in Dispute Resolution in Belgrade
He is the author of three monographs and several scientific studies and articles in the field of interstate law and international human rights. His book "''Caught in the Exercise of Their Rights''" was published by

Matica Srpska The Matica srpska ( sr-Cyrl, Матица српска, Matica srpska, la, Matrix Serbica, grc, Μάτιτσα Σρπσκα) is the oldest Serbian language independent, non-profit, non-governmental and cultural-scientific Serbian national inst ...

- Association of Members in Montenegro, which quickly attracted the attention of both the scientific and professional communities, as well as the general public. From 2018 to 2020, he served as the senior legal advisor of the

and the

, and has often emphasized the unconstitutionality of the controversial Law on Freedom of Religion that targets the

Serbian Orthodox Church The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodox Christian denomination, Christian churches. The majori ...

Political career

In the 2012 parliamentary elections, Leposavić supported and spoke at a rally of the ''Serb Unity'', a coalition of

Serb The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language. The majority of Serbs live in their na ...

nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

parties made up of the now-defunct Serb List of Dobrilo Dedeić, the People's Party of Predrag Popović, the Patriotic Serb Party of Aleksandar Stamatović and the

Party of Serb Radicals Party of Serb Radicals ( sr, Странка српских радикала, Stranka srpskih radikala, SSR), formerly Serbian Radical Party of Montenegro (SRS CG), was a minor far-right and Serbian nationalist political party, active in Montenegro. ...

. The leader of that coalition was the representative of the People's Party,

Jovan Markuš Jovan Markuš ( sr-cyr, Јован Маркуш; 20 January 1949) is a Montenegrin politician, journalist, publicist, historian and heraldist. He is the former mayor of Cetinje, Montenegro's Old Capital. Biography Jovan Markuš graduated from t ...

, the former Mayor of

Cetinje Cetinje (, ) is a town in Montenegro. It is the former royal capital (''prijestonica'' / приjестоница) of Montenegro and is the location of several national institutions, including the official residence of the president of Montenegro ...

. In 2014, Leposavić supported the Socialist People's Party of

Srđan Milić Srđan Milić ( sr-cyr, Срђан Милић; born September 17, 1965) is a Montenegrin politician and Member of the Parliament of Montenegro, from 2002 to 2020 and former leader of the Socialist People's Party, from 2006 until his resignation in ...

in the local elections and gave a speech at their campaign rally. In his speech he strongly criticized possible Montenegrin accession to

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

. Since 4 December 2020, he has been serving as the Minister of Justice and Human and Minority Rights in the

and the

. By his political opponents, Leposavić has been labelled a

Serbian nationalist Serbian nationalism asserts that Serbs are a nation and promotes the cultural and political unity of Serbs. It is an ethnic nationalism, originally arising in the context of the general rise of nationalism in the Balkans under Ottoman rule, und ...

. He was dismissed from the post of the Minister of Justice and Human and Minority Rights in the

on 17 June 2021 after a majority of the MP's voted for his dismissal following his comments regarding Srebrenica massacre. 43 MPs voted in favor of his dismissal, 27 voted against, whereas 10 were neutral.

Controversy

Srebrenica massacre statement

Leposavić became the subject of controversy after he stated in the

Parliament of Montenegro The Parliament of Montenegro ( cg, Скупштина Црне Горе, Skupština Crne Gore) is the unicameral legislature of Montenegro. The Parliament currently has 81 members, with each member elected to a four-year term. Following the 2006 ...

that he was ready to admit that the "act of

genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...

happened in

Srebrenica Srebrenica ( sr-cyrl, Сребреница, ) is a town and municipality located in the easternmost part of Republika Srpska, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is a small mountain town, with its main industry being Salt mine, salt mining a ...

when it was unequivocally determined". He said he would "certainly not deny the legal importance of the decisions of international bodies" even though the International Crime Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, which ruled that genocide happened in Srebrenica, "completely lost its legitimacy when it was determined that the evidence of the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold European Convention on Human Rights, human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. ...

rapporteur on the extraction and trafficking of organs of

civilian victims in

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

wa
destroyed in that court
. The US and British embassies in Podgorica condemned his comments and the US embassy immediately called the Montenegrin government to take a clear stance and "unequivocally condemn the massacre and call it what it was – genocide". In response, the Montenegrin government officially declared that "respects ��the Declaration of Acceptance of the Resolution of the European Parliament adopted by the Parliament of Montenegro in 2009, which condemns the crime of genocide in Srebrenica committed in 1995, as well as all other war crimes committed during the conflict in the former Yugoslavia". On 5 April 2021, Prime Minister Krivokapić announced that he sent a proposal for Leposavić's removal due to his stance on Srebrenica to the Parliament of Montenegro, while the head of the Democratic Front (DF) parliamentary group Slaven Radunović stated that every "Serb in Montenegro has the same stance as Leposavić" and that "while DF exists, his removal will not happen". On the same day, protests were held in multiple cities in Montenegro against Leposavić's removal. Leposavić announced that he will not resign and that he will perform his job until the parliament removes him and stated that the members of the government "were not elected by foreign allies, but by citizens through their MP's".

Personal life

Leposavić is married to a

Vietnamese-American Vietnamese Americans ( vi, Người Mỹ gốc Việt, lit=Viet-origin American people) are Americans of Vietnamese ancestry. They make up about half of all overseas Vietnamese and are the fourth-largest Asian American ethnic group after Chinese ...

Vy Nguyen who works in the United States Department of Defence.

References

External links

Vladimir Leposavić
official Instagram page {{DEFAULTSORT:Leposavic, Vladimir 1984 births Living people Serbs of Montenegro University of Belgrade Faculty of Law alumni People from Bar, Montenegro Montenegrin politicians Justice ministers of Montenegro Human rights ministers of Montenegro Members of the Serbian Orthodox Church Montenegrin lawyers Serbian nationalists