Dragoslav Bokan
| Dragoslav Bokan | |
|---|---|
 Bokan at the Despot Stefan Lazarević Memorial | |
| Born |
15 February 1961 Belgrade, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia (present-day Serbia) |
| Nationality | Serbian |
| Occupation | Film director and writer |
| Spouse(s) | Željka Zdjelar[1] |
| Children | 7[2] |
Dragoslav Bokan (Serbian Cyrillic: Драгослав Бокан; born 15 February 1961) is a Serbian film director and writer.[3]
Biography
Bokan graduated from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Dramatic Arts at age 22. In 1989, he moved to Port Chester, New York and a year later he returned to Serbia where he joined the Serbian National Renewal party. Bokan was head of the paramilitary section of the party known as the White Eagles before its split. Some White Eagles members were convicted of war crimes and other atrocities, but not those under Bokan's command.[4]
In the early 1990s he also worked for a Belgrade publishing company and wrote for Pogledi. He ran for the presidency of Serbia in the Serbian general election, 1992. He founded and led the short-lived Serbian Fatherland Association Party in 1993. The next year, in an interview with The New York Times, he was quoted as saying, "I don't believe in democracy because I don’t believe that any group at any time can change the course and goals of their ancestors."[5]
Bokan was interviewed in the 1995 BBC documentary series The Death of Yugoslavia. A part of his interview from this series appears at the end of the Death in June song, "Lullaby to a Ghetto". In 2007, he created the Kosovo is Serbia billboard campaign with quotes from Willy Brandt, Winston Churchill, Charles de Gaulle, John F. Kennedy (JFK), and George Washington.[6]
Bokan founded the Lepa Srbija, Rusija danas and Vodič za život magazines, and is a contributor to the Urban Book Circle.[7][8] On 17 July 2014, he was named the Donetsk People's Republic representative in Serbia.[9]
Republika Srpska name claim
In a July 2014 interview for Press, Bokan claimed that he, Goran Marić (Plavi orkestar founder) and Sonja Karadžić (daughter of Radovan Karadžić) created the name "Republika Srpska" as had been requested of them by Velibor Ostojić, then-Minister of Information.[4]
Arrests
On April 23, 1992 he was arrested in Belgrade.[10] He was accused of "possession of one hand grenade and four bullets found in his apartment" and was jailed for seven days. The trial lasted for a year and a half, and eventually resulted in a sentence of six months imprisonment.[11] The arrest was an apparent effort to ease criticism of Serbia's role in the Bosnian War.[12]
Published books
- Ognjeni ljiljani
- Portret mladog dendija
- Beograd, grad tajni
- Novi Sad: Od varoši do grada
- Kosovo je srce Srbije
- Politika: Mit, hronika, enciklopedija
References
- ↑ "Željka Zdjelar: Biografija sa pevanjem i pucanjem". Story.rs. 2016-02-21. Retrieved 2016-12-04.
- ↑ One child passed away during infancy at Find a Grave
- ↑ "Dragoslav Bokan: Pisanje i promena sveta". Standard.rs (in Serbian). 5 February 2012. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
- 1 2 "Srpska is more sovereign than Serbia". Pressrs.ba (in Serbian). 20 July 2014. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
- ↑
- ↑ Nicholas Wood (2007-12-24). "Serbia Enlisting Some Unlikely Faces". The New York Times. Retrieved 2016-11-18.
- ↑ "ABOUT US - Urban Book Circle®". Urbanbookcircle.com. 2012-02-14. Retrieved 2016-11-18.
- ↑ "Dragoslav Bokan biography". Urban Book Circle. 16 May 2013. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
- ↑ Bokan named the Donetsk People's Republic representative in Serbia, Pravda.rs, 12 August 2014; accessed 13 July 2015.(Serbian)
- ↑ Bokan arrested in Belgrade, Refworld.org; accessed 13 July 2015.
- ↑ Trial of Bokan, Tol.org; accessed 13 July 2015.
- ↑ The Times-News (25 April 1992). "Ongoing battles threaten European Community peace efforts". News.google.com. Retrieved 2 September 2015.