Nikola Koljević (

Serbian Cyrillic The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet ( sr, / , ) is a variation of the Cyrillic script used to write the Serbian language, updated in 1818 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić. It is one of the two alphabets used to write standard modern Serbian, th ...

: Никола Кољевић; 9 June 1936 – 25 January 1997) was a Serbian politician, university professor, translator and an essayist, one of the foremost Yugoslavian

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

scholars. In 2016, he was posthumously declared by the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

to be part of a criminal enterprise with extreme views toward Muslims. Koljević served as the

Serb Member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina This article lists the members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina since the country's new Constitution from December 1995, adopted following the Dayton Agreement. The Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina is composed of three members, e ...

alongside

Biljana Plavšić Biljana Plavšić ( sr-Cyrl, Биљана Плавшић; born 7 July 1930) is a former Bosnian Serb politician and university professor who served as President of Republika Srpska and was later convicted of crimes against humanity for her role ...

and was the

Vice President of Republika Srpska This article lists the vice presidents of Republika Srpska. Since the 2002 general election, in compliance with constitutional changes, the president of Republika Srpska has been a Serb and vice presidents have been a Croat and Bosniak. Be ...

during the

Bosnian War The Bosnian War ( sh, Rat u Bosni i Hercegovini / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. The war is commonly seen as having started ...

Biography

Koljević was born to a distinguished merchant family in

Banja Luka Banja Luka ( sr-Cyrl, Бања Лука, ) or Banjaluka ( sr-Cyrl, Бањалука, ) is the second largest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the largest city of Republika Srpska. Banja Luka is also the ''de facto'' capital of this entity. I ...

, then part of the

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 unt ...

, (now

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

). His elder brother, Svetozar (1930–2016), was a renowned scholar who has written extensively on

Serbian epic poetry Serbian epic poetry ( sr, Српске епске народне песме, Srpske epske narodne pesme) is a form of epic poetry created by Serbs originating in today's Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and North Macedonia. The ...

. At the first multi-party elections held in 1990, he was elected as a Serb member of the

Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina The presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Predsjedništvo Bosne i Hercegovine, separator=" / ", Предсједништво Босне и Херцеговине) is a three-member body which collectively serves as head of state of ...

. In April 1992 he left the Presidency, and during the

occupied the post of a

Vice-president A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...

Republika Srpska Republika Srpska ( sr-Cyrl, Република Српска, lit=Serb Republic, also known as Republic of Srpska, ) is one of the two Political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Feder ...

. He received the highest-ranking ordain of Republika Srpska. Koljević was the sole person to sign the declaration on behalf of Republika Srpska approving the

Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina The Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian: ''Ustav Bosne i Hercegovine'' / Устав Босне и Херцеговине) is the highest legal document of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The current Constitution is the ...

as set out in Annex 4 to the General Framework Agreement. Koljević's son was killed in a skiing accident in 1975.

Suicide

On 16 January 1997, he tried to commit suicide by shooting himself in the head, and died a week later in a Belgrade hospital.

International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia

In the 2016 verdict against

Radovan Karadžić Radovan Karadžić ( sr-cyr, Радован Караџић, ; born 19 June 1945) is a Bosnian Serb politician, psychiatrist and poet. He was convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes by the International Criminal Tr ...

, the U.N.-backed

International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was a body of the United Nations that was established to prosecute the war crimes that had been committed during the Yugoslav Wars and to try their perpetrators. The tribunal ...

(ICTY) identified Koljević as part of a

Joint criminal enterprise Joint criminal enterprise (JCE) is a legal doctrine used during war crimes tribunals to allow the prosecution of members of a group for the actions of the group. This doctrine considers each member of an organized group individually responsibl ...

, which included Karadžić. It described that Koljević was "particularly extreme in his view" and advocated for the expulsion of Bosnian Muslims in order to create homogeneity of territories, and said that it was "impossible for Serbs to live with anyone else": ''Prosecutor v. Karadžić – Judgement'', 24 March 2016, p. 1228 Having taught Shakespeare for many years at the

University of Sarajevo The University of Sarajevo ( Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian: ''Univerzitet u Sarajevu'' / Sveučilište u Sarajevu / Универзитет у Сарајеву) is a public university located in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the larges ...

, his later involvement in Serbian nationalist politics had taken aback his former Muslim students, with many of whom he had remained good friends after graduating, because he had never before shown the slightest trace of prejudice.

Works

* ''Teorijski osnovi nove kritike'', 1967 * ''O uporednom i sporednom'', 1977 * ''Ikonoborci i ikonobranitelji'', 1978 * ''Šekspir, tragičar'', 1981 * ''Pesnik iza pesme'', 1984 * ''"Tajna" poznog Dučića: interpretacija'', 1985 * ''"Lamnet nad Beogradom" Miloša Crnjanskog'', 1986 * ''Klasici srpskog pesništva'', 1987 * ''Otadžbinske teme'', 1995 * ''Andrićevo remek-delo'', 1995 * ''Od Platona do Dejtona: (zapisi o državi našim povodom)'', 1996

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Koljevic, Nikola 1936 births 1997 suicides People from Banja Luka Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina Vice presidents of Republika Srpska Politicians of the Bosnian War Members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Shakespearean scholars Suicides by firearm in Bosnia and Herzegovina Serbian male essayists Serbian nationalists Serbian politicians who committed suicide