Biljana Kovačević-Vučo (May 21, 1952 – April 20, 2010) was a

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

n human rights and anti-war activist. She was President of the Lawyer's Committee for Human Rights (YUCOM) from 1997 until her death in 2010. A lifelong antifascist, antinationalist and progressive, she was also a member of the Advisory Board of the left-wing magazine '' Novi Plamen'' O Novom Plamenu
(Retrieved on 2010-10-10).

Early life and education

Born in Belgrade in 1952, Biljana was raised in a household with two sisters, Nada and Jelena. Their Montenegrin father Veljko Kovačević—a Yugoslav volunteer veteran of the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

and

Partisan Partisan(s) or The Partisan(s) may refer to: Military * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line ** Francs-tireurs et partisans, communist-led French anti-fascist resistance against Nazi Germany during WWII ** Ital ...

communist guerrilla resistance fighter following

Nazi German Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

invasion of the Yugoslav Kingdom, a military engagement for which he received

Order of the People's Hero The Order of the People's Hero or the Order of the National Hero ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Orden narodnog heroja, Oрден народног хероја; , ), was a Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav gallantry medal, the ...

gallantry medal—had relocated to Belgrade several years before Biljana's birth due to being appointed to a series of senior military and government posts in the newly established

Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

. He simultaneously enrolled at the Higher Military Academy in Belgrade, advancing to the rank of general-lieutenant in the

Yugoslav People's Army The Yugoslav People's Army (JNA/; Macedonian language, Macedonian, Montenegrin language, Montenegrin and sr-Cyrl-Latn, Југословенска народна армија, Jugoslovenska narodna armija; Croatian language, Croatian and ; , J ...

(JNA), while also establishing a new career as a novelist. Biljana's Italian-Croatian mother Ines Valo from

Istria Istria ( ; Croatian language, Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; Italian language, Italian and Venetian language, Venetian: ; ; Istro-Romanian language, Istro-Romanian: ; ; ) is the largest peninsula within the Adriatic Sea. Located at th ...

tended to the family as young Biljana completed her education in

Skopje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...

and

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

. In 1977 she graduated from the

University of Belgrade Faculty of Law The Faculty of Law of the University in Belgrade (/''Pravni fakultet Univerziteta u Beogradu''), also known as the Belgrade Law School, is one of the first-tier educational institutions of the University of Belgrade, Serbia. The building is locate ...

References

1952 births 2010 deaths Serbian activists Serbian women activists {{Serbia-bio-stub