Nikola Šainović ( sr-Cyrl, Никола Шаиновић, born 7 December 1948) is a Serbian politician. A close associate of

Slobodan Milošević Slobodan Milošević ( sr-Cyrl, Слободан Милошевић, ; 20 August 1941 – 11 March 2006) was a Yugoslav and Serbian politician who was the President of Serbia between 1989 and 1997 and President of the Federal Republic of Yugos ...

, he held several important state functions of Serbia and FR Yugoslavia during the 1990s. He has been a member of the

Socialist Party of Serbia The Socialist Party of Serbia (, abbr. SPS) is a populist political party in Serbia. Ivica Dačić has led SPS as its president since 2006. SPS was founded in 1990 as a merger of the League of Communists of Serbia and Socialist Alliance ...

since the party's foundation. He served as the Deputy Prime Minister of FR Yugoslavia in charge of foreign affairs from 1994 to 2000, and represented Milošević as his emissary in Kosovo affairs from October 1998 during the

Kosovo War The Kosovo War (; sr-Cyrl-Latn, Косовски рат, Kosovski rat) was an armed conflict in Kosovo that lasted from 28 February 1998 until 11 June 1999. It ...

. He previously served as the

Prime Minister of Serbia The prime minister of Serbia ( sr-Cyrl, премијер Србије, premijer Srbije; feminine gender, feminine: премијерка/premijerka), officially the president of the Government of the Republic of Serbia ( sr-Cyrl, председн ...

from 1993 to 1994 and as the minister of Energy and Mining of Serbia and the

Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia The Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia (, literally translated as Vice President of the Government of Serbia), is the official Deputy prime minister, Deputy of the Prime Minister of Serbia, Prime Minister of Serbia. According to convention, one d ...

from 1991 to 1992. In 2009, he was convicted 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 ...

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

(ICTY) for

crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are certain serious crimes committed as part of a large-scale attack against civilians. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity can be committed during both peace and war and against a state's own nationals as well as ...

and

war crimes A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hos ...

committed against ethnic

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

civilians in 1999 during the Kosovo War. In 2015, he was granted early release after serving two-thirds of his sentence.

Education and career

Šainović finished primary and secondary school in his hometown and later graduated from the

University of Belgrade The University of Belgrade () is a public university, public research university in Belgrade, 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 me ...

's Technical Faculty in Bor in 1973. He earned a master's degree from the

University of Ljubljana The University of Ljubljana (, , ), abbreviated UL, is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. It has approximately 38,000 enrolled students. The university has 23 faculties and three art academies with approximately 4,000 teaching and re ...

in 1977 as a Chemical engineer. Soon afterwards he entered politics by becoming a member of the

League of Communists of Serbia The League of Communists of Serbia (, abbr. SKS), known as the Communist Party of Serbia (, abbr. KPS) until 1952, was the Ruling party, ruling List of political parties in Serbia, political party of Socialist Republic of Serbia, Serbia from 19 ...

, Serbian branch of the

League of Communists of Yugoslavia The League of Communists of Yugoslavia, known until 1952 as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, was the founding and ruling party of SFR Yugoslavia. It was formed in 1919 as the main communist opposition party in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats ...

. He presided for four years over Bor Municipal Committee of the League of Communists and held several important executive positions in Yugoslavian energy powerhouse

RTB Bor Serbia Zijin Bor Copper, formerly known as RTB Bor, is a copper mining and smelting complex located in Bor, Serbia. History Formation and expansion The first geological explorations of copper ore in Bor area were conducted in 1897 and cove ...

during the 1980s. In 1989, he became a member of the Executive Council of the Serbian Parliament. At the same time, he was named the Republican Secretary for industry, energy and construction. In 1991, the

transformed into the

. From 1991 to 1992 he served as the minister of Energy and Mining of Serbia and held the office of the

. In 1992 he also served as the Minister of Economy. On 10 February 1993, Šainović became the president of a

minority Government A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in ...

of the Republic of Serbia after the SPS won the largest number of votes in the 20 December 1992 parliamentary election, with support from the

Serbian Radical Party The Serbian Radical Party (, abbr. SRS) is a Far-right politics in Serbia, far-right, Ultranationalism, ultranationalist List of political parties in Serbia, political party in Serbia. Founded in 1991, its co-founder, first and only leader is ...

. On 18 March 1994, he resigned from office to be appointed Deputy Prime Minister of the

Federal Republic of Yugoslavia The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro or simply Serbia and Montenegro, known until 2003 as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and commonly referred to as FR Yugoslavia (FRY) or simply Yugoslavia, was a country in Southeast Europe locate ...

in charge of foreign affairs, on 22 February 1994. He soon made greater inner-party progress. On 28 November 1995 he was elected by the SPS party members into the executive council of the Socialist Party of Serbia, as well as its steering committee. Zgrada vlade - panoramio

Šainović was reappointed FRY Deputy Prime Minister in 1996 under

Radoje Kontić Radoje Kontić ( sh-Cyrl, Радоје Контић: born 31 May 1937) is a Montenegrin former politician and technologist who served as the Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1993 to 1998. Biography He was the last Chai ...

of the

Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) ** Democratic Par ...

after the 3 November 1996 parliamentary election on which SPS won the largest number of votes for the Serbian seats in the Council of Citizens of the FRY Federal Assembly. He was reappointed on new sessions in 1997, and again on 20 May 1998. FR Yugoslavia and SPS President

entrusted Šainović with representing him in 1998 with the Kosovo affairs, where inner-ethnic tensions escalated into a full-scale inter-state conflict. Šainović presided over the "Commission of Cooperation with the Mission for Verification of the

Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is a regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization comprising member states in Europe, North America, and Asia. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, the pr ...

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

. He signed the Clark-Naumann Agreement, which mandated partial removal of FRY and Serbian forces from Kosovo and limitation of introduction of additional forces and equipment, as well as the deployment of unarmed OSCE verifiers. He was also a member of the Yugoslavian and Serbian delegation in the failed Rambouillet peace talks with the Kosovo Albanian leaders from 7 February to mid-March 1999. He stayed in the office of Deputy Prime Minister of FR Yugoslavia until the

overthrow of Slobodan Milošević The Overthrow of Slobodan Milošević began in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia after the general election on 24 September 2000 and culminated in the downfall of Slobodan Milošević's government on 5 October 2000. As such, it is commonly ...

in October 2000.

ICTY trial and sentence

The

ICTY 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 tribun ...

indicted him in May 1999 for being responsible together with

, Milan Milutinović,

Dragoljub Ojdanić Dragoljub Ojdanić ( sr-Cyrl, Драгољуб Ојданић; 1 June 1941 – 6 September 2020) was a Serbian General of the army who served as the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Yugoslavia and Minister of Defence of Yugos ...

and Vlajko Stojiljković in 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 ...

spreading widespread terror and violence upon the ethnic Albanian population in Kosovo in the period from 1 January 1999 to 20 June 1999. After the Yugoslavian Federal Assembly passed the bill permitting extradition of its citizens to the Hague tribunal, his lawyers had contacted the authorities to discuss his surrender. Šainović surrendered and was transferred to the ICTY on 2 May 2002. His trial began on 10 July 2006. On 26 February 2009, the ICTY sentenced Šainović to 22 years in prison, following a conviction for

and

war crime A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...

s, including deportations and forcible transfers, murders and other persecutions. On 23 January 2014 his sentence was reduced to 18 years on appeal. In June 2015, Šainović's attorneys asked for early release from the prison, explaining that he has served nearly two-thirds of the sentence, during which his behavior was commendable; also adding that his health is weak due to age and diagnosed

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

and

glaucoma Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that can lead to damage of the optic nerve. The optic nerve transmits visual information from the eye to the brain. Glaucoma may cause vision loss if left untreated. It has been called the "silent thief of ...

. On 26 August 2015, three months after the request by his lawyers, he was released from the prison after serving (including pretrial detention and time served) two-thirds of his sentence.

Post-Hague release

On 3 September 2015, just a week after having been released from prison, he was appointed to the board of the Socialist Party of Serbia, one of the ruling parties in the country. In December 2017, Šainović was nominated for the Chairmanship board of the Socialist Party of Serbia.

Personal life

Šainović and his wife, Svetlana, have two sons, and reside in Belgrade.

References

External links