Nikola Koljević (

Serbian Cyrillic The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet (, ), also known as the Serbian script, (, ), is a standardized variation of the Cyrillic script used to write the Serbian language. It originated in medieval Serbia and was significantly reformed in the 19th cen ...

: Никола Кољевић; 9 June 1936 – 25 January 1997) was a

Bosnian Serb The Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sr-Cyrl, Срби Босне и Херцеговине, Srbi Bosne i Hercegovine), often referred to as Bosnian Serbs ( sr-cyrl, босански Срби, bosanski Srbi) or Herzegovinian Serbs ( sr-cyrl, � ...

politician, university professor, translator and an essayist, one of the foremost Yugoslavian

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 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 natio ...

scholars. In 2016, he was posthumously declared by 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 ...

to have been part of a criminal enterprise aimed at expelling

Bosniaks The Bosniaks (, Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia (region), Bosnia, today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and who sha ...

and

Bosnian Croats The Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina (), often referred to as Bosnian Croats () or Herzegovinian Croats (), are native to Bosnia and Herzegovina and constitute the third most populous ethnic group, after Bosniaks and Serbs. They are also one of ...

from Bosnia and Herzegovina 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 ...

. Koljević served as the Serb Member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina alongside

Biljana Plavšić Biljana Plavšić ( sr-Cyrl, Биљана Плавшић; born 7 July 1930) is a Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnian Serb former politician, university professor and scientist who served as President of Republika Srpska and was later convict ...

and was the Vice President of Republika Srpska during the

Yugoslav Wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place from 1991 to 2001 in what had been the Socialist Federal Republic of ...

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 List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, second largest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the largest city in Republika Srpska. Banja Luka is the tr ...

, then part of the

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () h ...

, (now

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

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

Serbian epic poetry Serbian epic poetry () is a form of epic poetry created by Serbs originating in today's Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and North Macedonia. The main cycles were composed by unknown Serb authors between the 14th and 19th centu ...

. 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 or 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 vi ...

Republika Srpska Republika Srpska ( sr-Cyrl, Република Српска, ; also referred to as the Republic of Srpska or Serb Republic) is one of the two Political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, entities within Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other bein ...

. 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 (Serbo-Croatian: ''Ustav Bosne i Hercegovine'' / ''Устав Босне и Херцеговине'') is the highest legal document of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The current Constitution is the Annex 4 of The ...

as set out in Annex 4 to the General Framework Agreement. Koljević's son was killed in a skiing accident in 1975. His daughter Bogdana Koljević Griffith is a politician and political philosopher in Serbia.

Suicide

On 16 January 1997, he tried to commit suicide by shooting himself twice 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-Cyrl, Радован Караџић, ; born 19 June 1945) is a Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnian Serb politician who was convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes by the International Criminal ...

, the U.N.-backed

(ICTY) identified Koljević as part of a

Joint criminal enterprise Joint criminal enterprise (JCE) is a legal doctrine that has been used during war crimes tribunals to prosecute individuals in a group for the actions of said group. This doctrine considers each member of an organized group individually respons ...

, ''Prosecutor v. Karadžić – Judgement'', 24 March 2016, p. 1303–1304 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 language, Bosnian, Croatian language, Croatian and Serbian language, Serbian: ''Univerzitet u Sarajevu'' / Sveučilište u Sarajevu / Универзитет у Сарајеву) is a List of universities in Bo ...

, 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

* *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Koljevic, Nikola 1936 births 1997 suicides 1997 deaths 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 died by suicide Koljević family