Dragan Veselinov

Dragan Veselinov (Драган Веселинов) is a Serbian politician. As the president of the Serbian Peasants Party in 1990, he was among the few Serbians to go openly against the Serb nationalist policies of Slobodan Milosevic and his allies in the early 1990s.^[1]

He previously served as Minister of Agriculture in the Serbian Government. He served under two Prime Ministers, Zoran Đinđić and Zoran Živković, from 2001 until 2003, before resigning under public pressure when his chauffer-driven government-issued vehicle struck and killed a pedestrian on the sidewalk in Belgrade.

On Tuesday April 15, 2003 around 9:40am, government-issued Mitsubishi Pajero SUV driven by Stevan Bakalov with Veselinov and his bodyguard on the back seat and rotation lights turned on was heading down Beogradska Street towards Slavija Square in downtown Belgrade. At the intersection with Njegoševa Street, the SUV struck a white Mercedes 190 taxi, then lost control and ended up on the sidwalk where three pedestrians were waiting to cross the street. The SUV struck the three pedestrians before slamming into the traffic pole and stopping. Thirtytwo-year-old pedestrian Katarina Marić died instantly while the other pedestrian Srbislav Ćirić got heavily injured.^[2]

Veselinov initially didn't show the intention of resigning, until public pressure grew^[3] that he also experienced pressure from within the government to do so. He finally announced his resignation on May 29, 2003.^[4]

The court process in this case started when district public prosecutors office finally issued an indictment against Bakalov in late May 2004, more than a year after the accident.^[5] Eventually, on March 2, 2006 Veselinov's driver Bakalov received a 5-year prison sentence for "causing the traffic accident".^[6] The judicial council presided over by judge Branka Pejović found Bakalov guilty of driving at higher than allowed speed and running the red light. On appeal, the sentence was then reduced to four years in May 2007.^[7] As of April 2008, Bakalov is in jail serving the sentence.

On March 3, 2009, Veselinov was questioned on suspicion that he testified falsely during trial, lying about the car going through on green light.^[8]

References

1. ^ Belgrade Journal; Double-Headed Eagle Cries to Serbs for Revenge, by Celestine Bohlen for The New York Times, September 12, 1990
2. ^ Zločin bez kazne, Kurir, April 14, 2004
3. ^ Saučešće uz bećarac, NIN, April 24, 2003
4. ^ Veselinov podneo ostavku, B92, May 29, 2003
5. ^ Mihajlović štitio ubice moje kćerke, Glas javnosti, June 3, 2004
6. ^ Stevan Bakalov osuđen na pet godina zatvora, Glas javnosti, March 3, 2006
7. ^ Godišnjica pogibije Katarine Marić, B92, April 15, 2008
8. ^ Saslušan Dragan Veselinov, B92, March 4, 2009

Persondata
Name	Veselinov, Dragan
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death