| LONG-TIME REBEL Born in Bosnia on 1 August, 1952, the son of a Yugoslav Army officer Expelled from school in Belgrade for protesting law that made Tito president for life During the long Milosevic era of the 1990s, Djindjic was one of the most prominent opponents of the ruling regime. Already a dissident in his student days in the mid-1970s, he left for Germany to complete his education and escape harassment. After his return to Belgrade, Djindjic was among the founding members of the centrist Democratic Party in 1989 - one of the main anti-Milosevic parties. A master tactician and an effective communicator, he soon took over as its leader. Djinjdic came to international prominence at the end of 1996, when he was one of three opposition leaders who inspired and co-ordinated nearly three months of mass street demonstrations against the attempts of the Milosevic administration to annul the victories of the Zajedno (Together) bloc in municipal elections across Serbia. The demonstrations - unprecedented in length and intensity in recent European history - brought victory. Djindjic's prize was to become mayor of Belgrade in 1997. Street protests But his victory was short-lived. Within months his political ally, the conservative Vuk Draskovic, turned against him, and Djindjic was out of office. During the Kosovo conflict, when Nato carried out a bombing campaign against Yugoslavia, Djindjic took refuge in Montenegro after reports that he was high on the list of opponents the ... |
