Alma Zadić (; born 24 May 1984) is a Bosnian-born Austrian lawyer and politician of the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

. She served as

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

from 7 January 2020 until 3 March 2025 in the governments of Chancellors

Sebastian Kurz Sebastian Kurz (; born 27 August 1986) is an Austrian former politician who served twice as Chancellor of Austria, first from 2017 to 2019 and then again from 2020 to 2021. Kurz was born and raised in Meidling, Vienna. He entered politics by ...

Alexander Schallenberg Alexander Georg Nicolas Schallenberg (; born 20 June 1969) is an Austrian diplomat, jurist, and politician who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Austria), minister of foreign affairs from 2019 until 2025, briefly interrupted by a period ...

and

Karl Nehammer Karl Nehammer (; born 18 October 1972) is an Austrian politician who served as the 28th chancellor of Austria from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), he previously was Minister of the Interior (Austria), Minister of th ...

Early life, education, and early career

Born in

Tuzla Tuzla (, , ) is the List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, third-largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the administrative center of Tuzla Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As of 2013, it has a population of 110,979 inha ...

, Zadić fled to Austria with her parents in 1994 during the

Bosnian War The Bosnian War ( / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. Following several earlier violent incid ...

and the family settled in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. She has been described as a Muslim, but denies any

religious affiliation Religious identity is a specific type of identity formation. Particularly, it is the sense of group membership to a religion and the importance of this group membership as it pertains to one's self-concept. Religious identity is not necessarily the ...

herself. She studied law at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

and at the

Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, colloquially the Catholic University of Milan () or simply the Cattolica, is an Italian private research university founded in 1921. Its main campus is located in Milan, Italy, with satellite campuses in B ...

Piacenza Piacenza (; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Piacenza, eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with more ...

before getting a

Fulbright scholarship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

for a postgraduate law degree at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

in New York.Katrin Bennhold (February 7, 2020)
A Onetime ‘Refugee Child’ Takes On Austria’s Far Right
''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. While being a student, she worked as a junior legal researcher at the

International Organization for Migration The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is a United Nations related organization working in the field of migration. The organization implements operational assistance programmes for Human migration, migrants, including internally displa ...

(IOM) in Vienna and as an intern at the

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 in the Yugoslav Wars, war crimes that had been committed during the Yugoslav Wars and to tr ...

in The Hague. She was also a competitive volleyball player and fitness coach. Before entering politics, Zadić worked for six years as a senior associate at the Vienna office of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

-headquartered multinational

law firm A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise consumer, clients (individuals or corporations) about their legal rights and Obligation, respon ...

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Freshfields LLP (formerly Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, or FBD) is a British multinational law firm headquartered in London, England, and a member of the so-called " Magic Circle". The firm has 28 offices in 17 jurisdictions across Asia, Europ ...

, specialising in human rights issues.

Political career

In 2017 she joined the Pilz list, from 2018 the Jetzt list and was elected to the National Council in the 2017 parliamentary elections. In 2019 she briefly became a non-party member of the National Council before being elected as a member of the

in that year's

election An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...

. On 7 January 2020, Zadić, along with three other Greens, was sworn in by Austria's president

Alexander Van der Bellen Alexander "Sascha" Van der Bellen (; born 18 January 1944), also referred to by the abbreviation VdB, is an Austrian politician serving as the president of Austria since 2017. He previously served as a professor of economics at the University ...

to serve in the

coalition government as Minister of Justice pursuant to the coalition agreement of Kurz's ÖVP with the Greens, led by

Werner Kogler Werner Kogler (; born 20 November 1961) is an Austrian politician of the Green Party who served as Vice-Chancellor of Austria from 2020 to 2024 and as minister for Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport in the governments of chancellors Seba ...

, who serves as Vice Chancellor. Zadić remained in the same role when

set up a new government following Kurz's resignation in October 2021. She continued serving until 2025, when the government of Christian Stocker was sworn in.

Defamation case

On social media, Zadić shared a photograph in which a member of a

Burschenschaft A Burschenschaft (; sometimes abbreviated in the German ''Burschenschaft'' jargon; plural: ) is one of the traditional (student associations) of Germany, Austria, and Chile (the latter due to German cultural influence). Burschenschaften were fo ...

was seen giving a

Nazi salute The Nazi salute, also known as the Hitler salute, or the ''Sieg Heil'' salute, is a gesture that was used as a greeting in Nazi Germany. The salute is performed by extending the right arm from the shoulder into the air with a straightened han ...

, with the comment "No tolerance for neo-Nazis, fascists and racists". In November 2019, she was found guilty of

defamation Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...

and fined 700 euros by a criminal court in Vienna.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zadic, Alma 1984 births 21st-century Austrian women politicians 21st-century women lawyers Austrian people of Bosnia and Herzegovina descent Bosnia and Herzegovina emigrants to Austria Columbia Law School alumni Female justice ministers Ministers of justice of Austria Living people Members of the 26th National Council (Austria) Members of the 27th National Council (Austria) Members of the 28th National Council (Austria) Politicians from Tuzla Politicians from Vienna The Greens (Austria) politicians University of Vienna alumni Women government ministers of Austria Women members of the National Council (Austria) Yugoslav Wars refugees