| The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07. |
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Ko tunica, Vojislav |
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(voi´släv kôsht ´n tsä) (KEY) , 1944–, Serbian politician, president of Yugoslavia (2000–03) and prime minister of Serbia (2004–) b. Belgrade. A constitutional lawyer and liberal anticommunist, he lectured at his Belgrade Univ., but was fired (1974) for his criticism of Tito. A free-speech advocate in the 1980s, he co-founded (1989) Yugoslavia’s Democratic party and later founded (1992) the breakaway Democratic party of Serbia. A member of the Yugoslavian parliament (1990–97) during the years of Yugoslavia’s breakup and ethnic warfare, he supported a primary role for Serbia within Yugoslavia while opposing the policies of Slobodan Miloevi . In 2000, a 18-party opposition coalition picked Kotunica as its presidential candidate, and he defeated Miloevi, becoming president of Yugoslavia. | 1 | | As president, Kotunica rejected the idea of trying Miloevi (or others involved in the atrocities of the 1990s) for war crimes. He also tried but failed to preserve the union between Serbia and Montenegro, the last remaining Yugoslavian republics, and it was ultimately dissolved in 2006. In 2003 he was elected to the Serbian parliament and became (2004) prime minister of Serbia, heading a center-right coalition, and remained in that post at the head of a revamped coalition after the 2007 elections. While continuing to oppose the Hague tribunal process for prosecuting Yugoslavian war crimes, Kotunica has moved to fight corruption and unemployment, worked toward Serbian membership in the European Union, and emphasized the preservation of Serb rights in Bosnia and in Kosovo, where he has strongly opposed any move that would lead to the region’s independence. | 2 |
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| | | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright © 2007 Columbia University Press. |
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