Vjerica Radeta

Vjerica Radeta (Serbian Cyrillic: Вјерица Радета; born October 15, 1955), formerly known as Vjerica Maljković (Serbian Cyrillic: Вјерица Маљковић), is a politician in Serbia. She is currently serving her fifth term in the National Assembly of Serbia as a member of the far-right Serbian Radical Party. She has served as a deputy speaker of the assembly since 2016.

Early life and career

Radeta was born in Livno, then located in the People's Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. A graduate of the University of Sarajevo's law faculty, she now lives in the Belgrade municipality of Zemun.[1][2]

Political career

Radeta served as deputy minister of justice in the government of Serbian prime minister Mirko Marjanović,[3] presumably holding this role between 1998 and 2000, when the Radical Party was part of a coalition government with the Socialist Party of Serbia and the Yugoslav Left. In February 2000, she was included in a list of Serbian government officials prevented from travelling to European Union countries.[4] She was also secretary of the municipal assembly of Zemun in the 1990s.

She appeared in the fifth and final position on the Radical Party's electoral list for the New Belgrade division in the 2000 Yugoslavian parliamentary election.[5] The party won a single seat in the division, which was automatically assigned to the lead candidate.[6]

Radeta received the forty-second position on the Radical Party's electoral list in the 2000 Serbian parliamentary election, in which party won twenty-three seats.[7] She was not initially selected for its assembly delegation but was awarded a mandate on 25 March 2003 as the replacement for another member who had resigned.[8] (From 2000 to 2011, Serbian parliamentary mandates were awarded to sponsoring parties or coalitions rather than to individual candidates, and it was common practice for the mandates to be awarded out of numerical order. Radeta's list position had no bearing on when, or whether, she received a mandate.)[9] The Radical Party served in opposition during this period.

She was awarded the thirty-fifth position on the Radical Party's list for the 2003 Serbian parliamentary election.[10] The party won eighty-two seats, and she was awarded a mandate for a second term.[11] Although the Radicals won more seats than any other party in the 2003 election, they fell well short of a majority and continued to serve in opposition. During her second term in parliament, Radeta was deputy chair of the judiciary and administration committee. In 2005, she attempted to introduce an amendment to Serbia's Information Law to ban the registration of media outlets that, in her words, "report[ed] notorious lies by pathological liar Nataša Kandić," a Serbian human rights activist and vocal opponent of Serbian nationalism.[12]

Radeta was included on the Radical Party's list for the 2007 parliamentary election and was again selected for its assembly delegation in the parliament that followed.[13][14] She served as a member of Serbia's Republic Election Commission during this time.[15] She received a fourth mandate following the 2008 election, in which she was promoted to the eighth position on the Radical Party's list.[16][17] The Radical Party remained in opposition throughout this period.

In July 2008, Radeta took part in Belgrade rally against the Serbian government's decision to extradite former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague for crimes committed during the Bosnian War. During a Radical Party press conference held against the backdrop of the rally, she said that Serbian president Boris Tadić could meet the same fate as Zoran Đinđić, the former Serbian prime minister who was assassinated in 2003 after approving the extradition of Slobodan Milošević.[18] Radeta was quoted as saying, "We are not threatening (him), but we are warning of the curse which followed all the traitors in Serbian history."[19] She was also quoted as saying that the Radicals had asked the Serbian Orthodox Church to state its opinion on the extradition, as only the church could formally excommunicate members and cast anathemas on them.[20] Her comments were widely reported in the international media, including by the New York Times.[21] Nada Kolundžija, a prominent member of Tadić's Democratic Party in the National Assembly, responded that "Radeta's comments could be interpreted as a call for violence, as justification for [Đinđić]'s murder," and some of the president's supporters called for legal action to be taken against Radeta.[22]

A serious split took place in the ranks of the Radical Party later in 2008, with several prominent members joining the more moderate Serbian Progressive Party under the leadership of Tomislav Nikolić and Aleksandar Vučić. Radeta remained with the Radicals and was identified as a leading figure in the party's hardline wing, party aligned with leader Vojislav Šešelj.[23][24] During an assembly debate in September 2008, Radeta shouted, "A curse on every Radical, on his seed and family, who ever meets with Tadić after the shameful extradition." The Economist subsequently noted that this comment referred to Nikolić, who had met with Tadić do ensure the passage of a key agreement with the European Union.[25] Nikolić, for his part, made dismissive remarks about Radeta in this period.[26]

The Radical Party organized a rally in Belgrade to protest the extradition of Ratko Mladić to The Hague in 2011. Radeta was quoted as saying, "I don't expect any incidents. Our call to citizens, to our members and to supporters of the Serbian Radical Party was public and it was an invitation to come to a peaceful demonstration."[27] The protest subsequently turned violent; Radeta said that she had not expected riots, on the grounds that "members and supporters of the Radical party have never been in any extremist groups."[28]

Radeta was listed as a vice-president of the Radical Party in a 2012 news report.[29]

Serbia's electoral system was reformed in 2011, such that parliamentary mandates were awarded in numerical order to candidates on successful lists. Radeta received the sixth position on the Radical Party's list in the 2012 parliamentary election,[30] in which the party failed to cross the electoral threshold to win representation in the assembly. She received the same position in the 2014 election, when the party again failed to win representation.[31]

The Radicals returned to the assembly with the 2016 election, winning twenty-two mandates. Radeta, who once again received the sixth position on the party's list, was accordingly re-elected.[32] The party once again serves in opposition, and Radeta serves as the deputy leader of its assembly group. She is also a member of the assembly committee on constitutional and legal issues and the committee on the rights of the child; a deputy member of the committee on administrative, budgetary, mandate, and immunity issues; and a member of the parliamentary friendship groups with Belarus and Russia.[33] At the beginning of this sitting of parliament, she was selected as one of six deputy speakers of the assembly.[34]

Radeta insulted Democratic Alliance of Croats in Vojvodina leader Tomislav Žigmanov in May 2018, calling him an Ustasha.[35]

2018 controversy

On 24 July 2018, Radeta responded to the recent death of Hatidža Mehmedović, founder of the Mothers of Srebrenica organization, by tweeting, "Who is going to bury her? The husband or sons?" Mehmedović's husband and two sons were killed by Serbian forces in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre. Her statement was immediately condemned by several politicians and human rights groups in Serbia. Zorana Mihajlović, one of Serbia's deputy prime ministers, said, "we are used to listening to the ugliest words from the [Radical Party] officials, but I could not believe that they are so shameless to offend the dead [...] this is not the shame for the Radicals, it is a disgrace for those who voted for them and brought them to the parliament." Representatives of the Sandžak Council for Protection Of Human Rights and Freedom and other institutions from this region of Serbia, mostly populated by Bosniaks, urged Serbian civil society and media to distance themselves from "this sublimate of fascism" and "clearly reject it and support justice for both dead and alive.”[36]

Radeta deleted her Twitter account in the aftermath of this controversy. Šešelj contended that Radeta's tweet had been "clumsily" expressed and its meaning misunderstood; Radeta, he said, had meant to imply that Mehmedović's husband and sons had faked their deaths and were still alive in exile under assumed names.[37]

An article in the newspaper Politika from this period noted that Radeta was known for using extremely abusive language on Twitter long before this controversy arose and that "it would be hard for a respectable newspaper to reprint even a fraction of the epithets that the Deputy Speaker of the Assembly of Serbia used in reference to her various opponents."[38]

Warrant for arrest

In January 2015, Radeta and two other members of the Radical Party (Petar Jojić and Jovo Ostojić) were charged with contempt of court by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for having allegedly "threatened, intimidated, offered bribes to or otherwise interfered with" witnesses in the trial of party leader Vojislav Šešelj.[39] According to Agence France Presse, Radeta was specifically charged with having "allegedly contacted a prosecution witness and told him Šešelj's lawyers 'would help him' if he changed his testimony" in a contempt of court case against the Radical Party leader; the witness, the report continues, later received a monthly payment from the Radical Party and a list of questions and answers to memorize.[40]

The three accused declined to go to The Hague to face the charges, and a Serbian court subsequently ruled that the country was not obligated to extradite them; the ruling indicated that Serbian law only requires the extradition of persons accused of serious offences such as war crimes, not those accused of contempt of court or other comparatively minor crimes.[41] The tribunal continued to demand that the accused be extradited, arguing that Serbia's existing legislation could not be used as an excuse for non-compliance and urging the country to change its legislation to comply with the arrest warrants.[42] Foreign affairs minister Ivica Dačić responded in August 2016 that Serbia's law on extraditions had been adopted by the Serbian parliament in cooperation with international agencies, that no objections were raised at the time, and that the tribunal had no authority to propose changes.[43]

In March 2017, Interpol issued high-priority red notices for the arrests of Radeta and her two colleagues.[44] Rasim Ljajić, a deputy prime minister of Serbia, responded by stating that, "There is a Serbian court ruling that they will not be surrendered. There is no legal ground for this, and we have to respect the conclusions of the independent judicial authorities."[45]

With the wrapping up of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in December 2017, Radeta's case was transferred to the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals.[46] The matter remains unresolved, and Radeta continues to serve as a member of the Serbian parliament, as does Jojić. Ostojić died of natural causes in June 2017 without having been arrested or extradited.[47]

References

  1. ↑ VJERICA RADETA, Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 6 June 2018.
  2. ↑ VJERICA RADETA, National Assembly of Serbia, accessed 6 June 2018.
  3. ↑ VJERICA RADETA, Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 6 June 2018.
  4. ↑ "Prosiren spisak lica koja ne mogu dobiti vize za zemlje EU", B92, 28 February 2000, accessed 6 September 2018.
  5. ↑ "КАНДИДАТИ СРПСКА РАДИКАЛНА СТРАНКА ЗА ИЗБОР САВЕЗНИХ ПОСЛАНИІКА У ВЕЋЕ ГРАЂАНА САВЕЗНЕ СКУПШТИНЕ, Velika Srbija [Radical Party publication], September 2000, p. 3.
  6. ↑ ИЗБОРИ 2000: ВЕЋЕ РЕПУБЛИКА И ВЕЋЕ ГРАЂАНА САВЕЗНЕ СКУПШТИНЕ, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Department of Statistics (2000), pp. 40, 59.
  7. ↑ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 23. децембра 2000. године и 10. јануара 2001. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (Српска радикална странка – др Војислав Шешељ), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 17 February 2017.
  8. ↑ DRUGA SEDNICA, PRVOG REDOVNOG ZASEDANJA, 25.03.2003., Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 6 September 2018.
  9. ↑ Serbia's Law on the Election of Representatives (2000) stipulated that parliamentary mandates would be awarded to electoral lists (Article 80) that crossed the electoral threshold (Article 81), that mandates would be given to candidates appearing on the relevant lists (Article 83), and that the submitters of the lists were responsible for selecting their parliamentary delegations within ten days of the final results being published (Article 84). See Law on the Election of Representatives, Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, No. 35/2000, made available via LegislationOnline, accessed 28 February 2017.
  10. ↑ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 28. децембра 2003. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (СРПСКА РАДИКАЛНА СТРАНКА - др ВОЈИСЛАВ ШЕШЕЉ), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 17 February 2017.
  11. ↑ PRVA SEDNICA, 27.01.2004., Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 18 May 2018. This source lists Radeta as one of the party's MPs at the first meeting of the assembly.
  12. ↑ "Serbia: B92TV receives bomb threats after broadcasting war-crimes video," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 15 July 2005 (Source: FoNet news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 1236 gmt 15 Jul 05).
  13. ↑ Radeta received the twelfth position. See Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 21. јануара и 8. фебрауара 2007. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (Српска радикална странка - др Војислав Шешељ), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 17 February 2017.
  14. ↑ 14 February 2007 legislature, National Assembly of Serbia, accessed 5 March 2017.
  15. ↑ "New Serbian parliament constituted," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 14 February 2007 (Source: Radio B92 text website, Belgrade, in Serbian 1435 gmt 14 Feb 07).
  16. ↑ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 11. маја 2008. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (СРПСКА РАДИКАЛНА СТРАНКА - Др ВОЈИСЛАВ ШЕШЕЉ), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 17 February 2017.
  17. ↑ 11 June 2008 legislature, National Assembly of Serbia, accessed 5 March 2017.
  18. ↑ Jovana Gec, "Deadline for Karadzic to file appeal passes amid efforts to stall his extradition," Associated Press Newswires, 25 July 2008.
  19. ↑ Suzana Markovic, "Serb hardliners use Karadzic to turn up heat on pro-EU gov't," Agence France Presse, 26 July 2008. Radeta's exact words were reported and translated differently by different media sources.
  20. ↑ "Radicals' warns president of historical 'curse' on Serbian 'traitors,'," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 25 July 2008 (Source: Radio B92 text website, Belgrade, in English 1341 gmt 25 Jul 08).
  21. ↑ See for instance "Serb's Extradition Is Challenged Over Arrest Details," New York Times, 26 July 2008, p. 10; Damir Marusic, "Don't Rest on Tadic's Laurels," Wall Street Journal, 29 July 2008, p. 13; Ian Traynor, "Serbia war crimes: Lukewarm turnout at mass rally for Karadzic," The Guardian, 30 July 2008, p. 14; Robert Marquand, "Serb radicals rally around Karadzic," Christian Science Monitor, 30 July 2008, p. 8; "Karadzic lawyer confirms appeal," Al Jazeera English, 27 July 2008; Neil MacDonald, "Belgrade prepares for Karadzic backlash," Financial Times, 27 July 2008; "Radicals threaten Serb leader's life," The Australian, 28 July 2008, p. 15; "Anwalt legt Einspruch gegen Karadzics Auslieferung ein," AP German Worldstream, 26 July 2008; "Death threats to Serbian president over Karadzic arrest," Trend News Agency (Azerbaijan), 26 July 2008.
  22. ↑ "Serbian Democrats want Radicals prosecuted for 'death threats' to president," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 26 July 2008 (Source: Radio B92 text website, Belgrade, in English 0759 gmt 26 Jul 08).
  23. ↑ "Analysts see three factions locked in power struggle in Serbian Radical Party," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 11 August 2008 (Source: Blic website, Belgrade, in Serbian 8 Aug 08).
  24. ↑ "Serbian Radicals' leader reportedly losing control of assembly deputies," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 5 September 2008 (Source: Blic website, Belgrade, in Serbian 5 Sep 08).
  25. ↑ "Serbia: A New Strongman," The Economist, 20 September 2008, p. 20.
  26. ↑ "Nikolic hopes Serbian Radicals' official to join breakaway group," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 9 September 2008 (Source: Radio Belgrade in Serbian 1300 gmt 9 Sep 08).
  27. ↑ "Serbia braces for protests over Mladic arrest," Agence France Presse, 28 May 2011.
  28. ↑ Julian Borger, "Rally in support of Mladic turns violent as Serb nationalists run riot in Belgrade," The Guardian, 30 May 2011, p. 13.
  29. ↑ "Serbian radical party submits signatures backing founder's wife in presidential bid," Xinhua News Agency, 10 April 2012.
  30. ↑ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине, 6. мај 2012. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (СРПСКА РАДИКАЛНА СТРАНКА - ДР ВОЈИСЛАВ ШЕШЕЉ), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 11 April 2017.
  31. ↑ See Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 16. и 23. марта 2014. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (СРПСКА РАДИКАЛНА СТРАНКА - ДР ВОЈИСЛАВ ШЕШЕЉ), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 11 April 2017.
  32. ↑ Избори за народне посланике 2016. године » Изборне листе (Др ВОЈИСЛАВ ШЕШЕЉ - СРПСКА РАДИКАЛНА СТРАНКА), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 2 March 2017.
  33. ↑ VJERICA RADETA, National Assembly of Serbia, accessed 6 June 2018.
  34. ↑ "Maja Gojkovic reelected Serbian National Assembly president", B92, 6 June 2016, accessed 25 July 2018.
  35. ↑ "Serbia: Radical Party official calls Croat deputy an Ustasha," HINA, 22 May 2018.
  36. ↑ "Evil tweet by Serbia's official on Srebrenica woman death", N1, 24 July 2018, accessed 24 July 2018.
  37. ↑ "Šešelj: Neću nikome dozvoliti da smeni Radetu", N1, 27 July 2018, accessed 6 September 2018.
  38. ↑ Jelena Cerovina, "Vjerica za nevericu", Politika, 28 July 2016, accessed 6 September 2018. The translated quotation appears in "Serbian commentary profiles controversial Radical Party MP," British Broadcasting Forum Monitoring European, 1 August 2018.
  39. ↑ "UN court charges top officials in Serb nationalist party," Associated Press Newswires, 1 December 2015.
  40. ↑ "Serbia 'not cooperating' in arrests: UN war crimes tribunal," Agence France Press, 10 February 2016.
  41. ↑ "Serbian court rules against extradition of three party officials to The Hague," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 18 May 2016 (Source: Radio B92 text website, Belgrade, in English 0000 gmt 18 May 16).
  42. ↑ "ICTY urges Serbia to hand over three Radical Party officials," HINA, 2 August 2016.
  43. ↑ "Serbian minister rejects ICTY request to amend legislation," HINA, 3 August 2016.
  44. ↑ "Interpol Issues Arrest Notices For Associates Of Serbian Ultranationalist," Radio Free Europe Documents and Publications, 31 March 2017.
  45. ↑ "Interpol Issues Arrest Warrant for Serbian Parliament Vice-Speaker, Associates," Sputnik News Service, 31 March 2017.
  46. ↑ "Experts say ICTY failed to bring reconciliation to Balkans," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 6 December 2017 (source: Source: Blic website in Serbian 3 Dec 17).
  47. ↑ "Preminuo Jovo Ostojić član SRS koga traži Hag", Politika, 30 June 2017, accessed 14 April 2018.
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