Dragoslav Bokan

Dragoslav Bokan

Born (1961-02-15) 15 February 1961
Belgrade, Serbia, Yugoslavia
Nationality Serbian
Occupation Film director and writer
Spouse(s) Željka Zdjelar
Children 4

Dragoslav Bokan (Serbian Cyrillic: Драгослав Бокан; born 15 February 1961) is a Serbian film director and writer.[1]

Biography

Bokan graduated from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Dramatic Arts at 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.[2]

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."[3]

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 Charles de Gaulle, Winston Churchill, George Washington, JFK and Willy Brandt.[4]

Bokan founded the Lepa Srbija, Rusija danas and Vodič za život magazines, and is a contributor to the Urban Book Circle.[5][6] On 17 July 2014, he was named the Donetsk People's Republic representative in Serbia.[7]

Republika Srpska name claim

In a July 2014 interview for Press, Bokan claimed that he, Plavi orkestar founder Goran Marić and Radovan Karadžić's daughter Sonja came up with the name Republika Srpska as was requested of them by Velibor Ostojić who was the Minister of Information of the entity at the time.[2]

Arrests

On April 23, 1992 he was arrested in Belgrade.[8] 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.[9] The arrest was an apparent effort to ease criticism of Serbia's role in the Bosnian War.[10]

He was arrested again on October 9, 1992.[11]

Published books

References

  1. Standard.rs (5 February 2012). "Dragoslav Bokan: Pisanje i promena sveta" (in Serbian). Retrieved 29 June 2012.
  2. 1 2 Press (20 July 2014). "Srpska is more sovereign than Serbia" (in Serbian). Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  3. Quote by Bokan, politicalquotes.org; accessed 13 July 2015.
  4. Article on Bokan's projects, nytimes.com, 24 December 2007.
  5. Urban Book Circle – About us section
  6. Urban Book Circle (16 May 2013). "Dragoslav Bokan biography". Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  7. Bokan named the Donetsk People's Republic representative in Serbia, pravda.rs, 12 August 2014; accessed 13 July 2015.
  8. Bokan arrested in Belgrade, refworld.org; accessed 13 July 2015.
  9. Trial of Bokan, tol.org; accessed 13 July 2015.
  10. The Times-News (25 April 1992). "Ongoing battles threaten European Community peace efforts". Retrieved 2 September 2015.

External links

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