Zoran Đinđić

Serbian politician (1952−2003)

Fame57.1
Momentum2.5
Wikipedia11.7K

Source-basedStable

Lived 1952–2003, aged 51

Wikipedia
57 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1952–2003
Aged 51
Known for
Djindjic - The Story o…
2023

Summary

Updated 2026-06-09

Serbia's first post-communist prime minister, shot dead in Belgrade in 2003 by a former special-ops operative linked to organized crime. The assassination came two years after he helped topple Milošević and began extraditing war-crimes suspects to The Hague.

Biography

About

Zoran Đinđić held a doctorate in philosophy and spent the 1990s as a long-time opposition figure, co-leading the resistance to Slobodan Milošević's administration. In 1997 he became Belgrade's mayor, the first non-communist and first democratically elected official in that office since World War II. After Milošević's overthrow, Đinđić became prime minister in 2001 and pushed Serbia toward Europe: his government ratified the European Convention on Human Rights, introduced new human-rights institutions, and secured Council of Europe membership in 2003. He strongly backed cooperation with the Int…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Zoran Đinđić

Zoran Đinđić

said12 Jan 2003

I am at the work at which I am interested in Indians and not the Chiefs. I need people to do the job.

— Ekonomist (12 January 2003).

Zoran Đinđić

said30 Dec 2002

We are still in the position of those who cut the forest and planted some seedlings, and now are surprised that there is no shade. Do I worry that there is no shade? I do.

— Večernje novosti (30 December 2002).

Zoran Đinđić

said9 Mar 2002

No more sleep. You cannot be world champions by sleeping. Sleep five, six hours, you do not need more. You will sleep when you are retired. Retired persons are allowed to sleep.

— Tribunal Serbia on the right track in Leskovac (9 March 2002).

Zoran Đinđić

said15 Jan 2002

The secret of success lies in investing into education, as the wealthy countries do. This means not in technology and machines first.

— From speech at press conference From vision to defined program (15 January 2002).

Zoran Đinđić

said30 Dec 2001

My motto that keeps me in motion is do not give up. If you start passing the vehicles, hit the gas. Do what you believe is right, and not what the majority would support.

— Večernje novosti (30 December 2001).

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

Gallery