Vladimir Leposavić (; born 24 August 1984) is a Montenegrin lawyer and politician who served as the Minister of Justice and Human and Minority Rights in the

Government of Montenegro The government of Montenegro (, Влада Црне Горе) is the executive branch of state authority in Montenegro. It is headed by the Prime Minister of Montenegro, prime minister. It consists of the prime minister, the deputy prime ministe ...

and the cabinet of

Zdravko Krivokapić Zdravko Krivokapić ( Serbo-Croat Cyrillic: Здравко Кривокапић; born 2 September 1958) is a Montenegrin professor and former politician who served as Prime Minister of Montenegro from 2020 to 2022. In addition to his professorsh ...

from 4 December 2020 to 17 June 2021. Prior to this, he was a senior legal advisor of the

Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral The Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral of the Serbian Orthodox Church () is the largest eparchy (diocese) of the Serbian Orthodox Church in modern Montenegro. Founded in 1219 by Saint Sava as the Eparchy of Zeta, it has continued to ex ...

and the

Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro Eastern Orthodoxy in Montenegro refers to adherents, religious communities, institutions and organizations of Eastern Orthodox Christianity in Montenegro. It is the largest Christian denomination in the country. According to the latest 2023 Census ...

Early life and law career

Vladimir Leposavić was born on 24 August 1984 in the town of Bar, Montenegro which was then part of the

Socialist Federal 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 ...

. In 2008, he graduated from the

Faculty of Law, University of Belgrade 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 ...

. He is a three-time winner of 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 ...

award for professional work in the field of legal and economic sciences. He received the Robert Schuman Foundation Scholarship Award in 2008 and was also the winner of the prestigious Fulbright Program Scholarship Award for academic and professional results in 2014. As a Fulbright Visiting Researcher, he specialized in the field of international human rights at the

American University The American University (AU or American) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Its main campus spans 90-acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, in the Spri ...

Washington College of Law The American University Washington College of Law (AUWCL or WCL) is the law school of American University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It is located on the western side of Tenley Circle in the Tenleytown section of northw ...

Washington D.C Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

., and received his doctorate in the field of international protection of minorities in 2016, at the

. In 2006, he served as legal assistant for the

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, l ...

Belgrade office, providing assistance to refugees and internally displaced persons. He provided other legal assistance as a Trainee Solicitor for two Belgrade law firms from 2007 to 2009. Leposavić was a Senior University Lecturer at the Faculty of Law at the

Mediterranean University Mediterranean University ( Montenegrin: Универзитет Медитеран / Univerzitet Mediteran) is a university located in Podgorica, Montenegro. It was founded on 30 May 2006, is the first private university established in Montenegr ...

Podgorica Podgorica ( cnr-Cyrl, Подгорица; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Montenegro, largest city of Montenegro. The city is just north of Lake Skadar and close to coastal destinations on the Adriatic Sea. Histor ...

from 2009 to 2016 and a law professor at the Union–Nikola Tesla University in

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 ...

from 2016 to 2018. During his tenures, he taught Comparative Law and Political Systems,

International Human Rights law International human rights law (IHRL) is the body of international law designed to promote human rights on social, regional, and domestic levels. As a form of international law, international human rights law is primarily made up of treaties, ag ...

European Union law European Union law is a system of Supranational union, supranational Law, laws operating within the 27 member states of the European Union (EU). It has grown over time since the 1952 founding of the European Coal and Steel Community, to promote ...

, Sociology of Law, Diplomatic and Consular Law, and

Copyright Law A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, e ...

. In 2019, he was awarded Teacher of the Year for his work as a trainer and licensed mediator for th
National Center for Mediation in Dispute Resolution in Belgrade
He is the author of three monographs and several scientific studies and articles in the field of interstate law and international human rights. His book "''Caught in the Exercise of Their Rights''" was published by

Matica Srpska The Matica srpska ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Матица српска, Matica srpska, ) is the oldest Serbian language independent, non-profit, non-governmental and cultural-scientific Serbian national institution. It was founded on June 1, 1826, in Pest, ...

- Association of Members in Montenegro, which quickly attracted the attention of both the scientific and professional communities, as well as the general public. From 2018 to 2020, he served as the senior legal advisor of the

and the

, and has often emphasized the unconstitutionality of the controversial Law on Freedom of Religion that targets the

Serbian Orthodox Church The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodox Church#Constit ...

Political career

In the 2012 parliamentary elections, Leposavić supported and spoke at a rally of the ''Serb Unity'', a coalition of

Serb The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history, and language. They primarily live in Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia ...

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

parties made up of the now-defunct Serb List of Dobrilo Dedeić, the People's Party of Predrag Popović, the Patriotic Serb Party of Aleksandar Stamatović and the

Party of Serb Radicals Party of Serb Radicals (, SSR), formerly Serbian Radical Party of Montenegro (SRS CG), was a minor far-right and Serbian nationalist political party, active in Montenegro. History The SSR was formed by the former members of Serbian Radical Party, ...

. The leader of that coalition was the representative of the People's Party,

Jovan Markuš Jovan Markuš ( sr-cyr, Јован Маркуш; born 20 January 1949) is a Montenegro, Montenegrin politician, journalist, publicist, historian and heraldist. He is the former mayor of Cetinje, Montenegro's Old Capital. Biography Jovan Markuš ...

, the former Mayor of

Cetinje Cetinje ( cnr-Cyrl, Цетиње, ) is a List of cities and towns in Montenegro, town in Montenegro. It is the former royal capital ( cnr-Latn-Cyrl, prijestonica, приjестоница, separator=" / ") of Montenegro and is the location of sev ...

. In 2014, Leposavić supported the Socialist People's Party of Srđan Milić in the local elections and gave a speech at their campaign rally. In his speech he strongly criticized possible Montenegrin accession to

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

. Since 4 December 2020, he has been serving as the Minister of Justice and Human and Minority Rights in the

and the cabinet of

. By his political opponents, Leposavić has been labelled a

Serbian nationalist Serbian nationalism asserts that Serbs are a nation and promotes the cultural and political unity of Serbs. It is an ethnic nationalism, originally arising in the context of the general rise of nationalism in the Balkans under Ottoman rule, ...

. He was dismissed from the post of the Minister of Justice and Human and Minority Rights in the

on 17 June 2021 after a majority of the MP's voted for his dismissal following his comments regarding

Srebrenica genocide The Srebrenica massacre, also known as the Srebrenica genocide, was the July 1995 genocidal killing of more than 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys in and around the town of Srebrenica during the Bosnian War. It was mainly perpetrated by units ...

. 43 MPs voted in favor of his dismissal, 27 voted against, whereas 10 were neutral.

Controversy

Srebrenica massacre statement

Leposavić became the subject of controversy after he stated in the

Parliament of Montenegro The Parliament of Montenegro () is the unicameral legislature of Montenegro. The Parliament currently has 81 members, with each member elected to a four-year term. Following the 2006 independence referendum, the Parliament declared and ratified t ...

that he was ready to admit that the "act of

genocide Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...

happened in

Srebrenica Srebrenica ( sr-cyrl, Сребреница, ) is a town and municipality in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is a small mountain town, with its main industry being salt mining and a nearby spa. During the Bosnian War in 1995, Srebr ...

when it was unequivocally determined". He said he would "certainly not deny the legal importance of the decisions of international bodies" even though the International Crime Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, which ruled that genocide happened in Srebrenica, "completely lost its legitimacy when it was determined that the evidence of the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...

rapporteur on the extraction and trafficking of organs of

civilian victims in

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 ...

wa
destroyed in that court
. The US and British embassies in Podgorica condemned his comments and the US embassy immediately called the Montenegrin government to take a clear stance and "unequivocally condemn the massacre and call it what it was – genocide". In response, the Montenegrin government officially declared that "respects ��the Declaration of Acceptance of the Resolution of the European Parliament adopted by the Parliament of Montenegro in 2009, which condemns the crime of genocide in Srebrenica committed in 1995, as well as all other war crimes committed during the conflict in the former Yugoslavia". On 5 April 2021, Prime Minister Krivokapić announced that he sent a proposal for Leposavić's removal due to his stance on Srebrenica to the Parliament of Montenegro, while the head of the Democratic Front (DF) parliamentary group Slaven Radunović stated that every "Serb in Montenegro has the same stance as Leposavić" and that "while DF exists, his removal will not happen". On the same day, protests were held in multiple cities in Montenegro against Leposavić's removal. Leposavić announced that he will not resign and that he will perform his job until the parliament removes him and stated that the members of the government "were not elected by foreign allies, but by citizens through their MP's".

Personal life

Leposavić is married to a

Vietnamese-American Vietnamese Americans () are Americans of Vietnamese people, Vietnamese ancestry. They constitute a major part of all overseas Vietnamese. As of 2023, over 2.3 million people of Vietnamese descent live in the United States, making them the fourth ...

Vy Nguyen who works in the United States Department of Defence.

References

External links

Vladimir Leposavić
official Instagram page {{DEFAULTSORT:Leposavic, Vladimir 1984 births Living people Serbs of Montenegro University of Belgrade Faculty of Law alumni People from Bar, Montenegro Justice ministers of Montenegro Human rights ministers of Montenegro Members of the Serbian Orthodox Church Montenegrin lawyers Serbian nationalists