Ivan Šimonović

Ivan Šimonović (born May 2, 1959 in Zagreb) is a Croatian diplomat and law scholar.

Šimonović graduated from the University of Zagreb Law School in 1982. He obtained a doctoral degree in 1990, at the age of 31. Šimonović joined Croatian diplomacy after the break-up of Yugoslavia. He was an assistant to Foreign Minister Mate Granić during the 1990s, although he never joined the ruling party, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).

In 1999, Croatian President Franjo Tuđman named him ambassador to the United Nations. Šimonović served there until 2002. While serving there, Šimonović presided over the United Nations Economic and Social Council. In 2002 he became Deputy Foreign Minister in Ivica Račan government. Again, he didn't join the ruling party, SDP. However, when HDZ swung back to power in 2003, Šimonović was not offered a job in the new government.

In 2004, Šimonović became a professor at the University of Zagreb Law School, where he teaches general theory of law and state and international relations.

Šimonović was appointed Minister of Justice-designate of Croatia by PM Ivo Sanader on October 6, 2008. His predecessor Ana Lovrin resigned the same day following the series of unsolved assasinations linked to Croatian organized crime that culminated with the killing of Ivana Hodak, daughter of a prominent Croatian lawyer Zvonimir Hodak.

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