Dragan Jočić

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Dragan Jočić

Dragan Jočić (Serbian Cyrillic: Драган Јочић) is the Serbian Minister of Interior in the cabinet of Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica. He was born in Belgrade in 1960.

Jočić studied at the University of Belgrade, graduating from the Faculty of Law. After graduation, he started private law practice. He was a member of the Democratic Party of Serbia since its inception; Jočić is currently the party vice-president and has been a member of the party's executive board since its founding. From 1992 to 1997, he was a deputy in the Parliament of Serbia. He was also a city council member and has been a member of the Belgrade City Council since 2000. He belongs to the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS).

When he was named as Interior Minister on Mar 3, 2004, several newspapers reported that he was directly involved in a string of shop robberies when he was twenty-one years old. He confirmed the stories but called it irrelevant, stating that he had been young and that all people were entitled to a past. He was accused of trying to rig the trial for murder of the Prime Minister by his attempt to influence one of accused Dejan Milenković Bagzi to change his story.

Despite the fact that the transcripts of his phone call with Bagzi's attorney have been published, Jočić strenuously denied charges and said that transcripts were forged. He was blasted again for having a private meeting with the chief suspect for the murder of the Premier just minutes after he was arrested. The meeting lasted several hours. Jočić confirmed this but denied that he broke the law by stating that this was the safest option. He was also accused of failing to adequately protect the Belgrade mosque during riots caused by violence in Kosovo. Jočić reacted by sacking the chief of Belgrade police force even though transcripts of phone calls which they had during the riot clearly proved that he strictly insisted that no force be used against protestors. That eventually led to the destruction of the mosque. To date, Jočić has not adequately responded to these charges.