Andrej Nikolaidis

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Andrej Nikolaidis

Andrej Nikolaidis (born 1974, Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, SFR Yugoslavia) is a Montenegrin writer and columnist.

Andrej was born and raised in Sarajevo, Bosnia to a mixed Montenegrin-Greek family. In 1992, following the breakout of ethnic strife in Bosnia that soon evolved into an all out war, Nikolaidis' family moved to the Montenegrin town of Ulcinj, his father's hometown where he owns a summer home. An ardent supporter of Montenegrin independence, Nikolaidis initially became known for his political views and public feuds, appearing on local television and in newspapers with his razor-sharp political commentaries. His writings for Monitor and Slobodna Bosna aroused controversy and he "received threats, including death threats, after publishing several articles about “facing the past.” During a talk show on Radio Antena M, one of the listeners, while he was on air, said that he would kill Nikolaidis." ^[1]

Nikolaidis published three novels: "They!" (Plima,2001), "Mimesis" (Durieux, OKF, 2003) and "Son" (Durieux, 2006), as well as several collections of short stories, of which "The Cathedral in Seattle" (published by Plima, Montenegro, 1999) stands out the most. His first critically-acclaimed novel "Mimesis" was very well received in Croatia, Bosnia and among liberal Montenegrin intellectuals, where local independent media compares his expression and attitude to the one of Thomas Bernhard. He writes columns for pro-independence Montenegrin media such as Vijesti daily newspaper, Monitor weekly magazine, and Crnogorski knjizevni list weekly newspaper, as well as Bosnian weekly newsmagazine Slobodna Bosna. He now resides in Ulcinj, Montenegro.

[edit] Controversy

On May 28, 2004, Nikolaidis' highly charged piece titled "Executioner's Apprentice" was published as part of his regular column in Monitor weekly magazine. In it, he targeted film director Emir Kusturica, denouncing him, among other things, as one of the "biggest media stars of the time when Milošević's war propaganda propped people who had something stupid but patriotic to say and made news for people who were "insensitive to human suffering, blind to their own guilt, and finally stupid enough to believe in their own righteousness".

He was subsequently sued by Kusturica for libel. After the trial in November 2004, primary court (Osnovni sud) in Podgorica under presiding judge Evica Durutović awarded Kusturica €5,000 in damages. However, on appeal, the verdict against Nikolaidis had been overruled by the higher court (Viši sud) in December 2005^[2] and the case was returned to the lower court for a re-trial.

In late November 2007 the primary court (Osnovni sud) confirmed the previous verdict following a re-trial. Nikoladis again appealed the primary court verdict and the case was heard for the second time by the higher court (Viši sud) in April 2008 and this time it upheld the primary court verdict, ordering Nikolaids to pay the damages.^[3]^[4]