Dragoljub Ojdanić

Dragoljub Ojdanić
Born (1941-06-01) 1 June 1941
Ravni near Užice, Kingdom of Yugoslavia (present-day Ravni near Užice, Serbia)
Allegiance SFR Yugoslavia (to 1992)
FR Yugoslavia (to 2000)
Service/branch Yugoslav People's Army (to 1992)
Yugoslav Army (2000)
Years of service 1964–2000
Rank General of the Army
Battles/wars Kosovo War
Awards Order of Freedom

Dragoljub Ojdanić (Serbian Cyrillic: Драгољуб Ојданић) (born 1 June 1941, Ravni near Užice, Kingdom of Yugoslavia) was former Chief of the General Staff and Defence minister of Yugoslavia. He was convicted of deportation and forcible transfers by the ICTY.[1]

In 1958, Ojdanić studied at the Yugoslav military academy and graduated in 1964. He was deputy commander of the 37th Corps, with command in Užice. He was promoted to Major General on 20 April 1992 and he became the commander of Užice korpus. Under his command, the Užice Corps was deployed in military operations in eastern Bosnia during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

He served as Chief of the General Staff First Army of FRY in 1993 and 1994. From 1994–96 he was commander of the First Army. In 1996 he became deputy commander Chief of the General Staff. In 1998 Slobodan Milošević placed Ojdanić as a Chief of the General Staff of the Yugoslav Army. He was also a Chief of General Staff during NATO's Operation Allied Force. In February 2000 after the death of defence minister Pavle Bulatović, he was made Defence minister of Yugoslavia and promoted to General of the Army.

On 25 April 2002, Ojdanić was transferred by the Yugoslav government to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague. Ojdanić was allowed to attend Milošević's funeral after his death on 11 March 2006. On 26 February 2009, the ICTY sentenced Ojdanić to 15 years in prison, following a conviction for deportation and forcible transfers.[1]

On 27 May 2009, Ojdanić's case was appealed.[2] Ojdanić's co-counsel on appeal is Peter Robinson of the United States. In January 2013, Ojdanić publicly admitted his participation in war crimes against Kosovo Albanians and withdrew the appeal against his conviction.[3] In August 2013, Ojdanić was granted early release and has since lived in Serbia.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 "Kosovo trial clears Serbia leader". BBC News. 26 February 2009. Retrieved 26 February 2009.
  2. ↑ Profile: Dragoljub Ojdanić, haguejusticeportal.net; accessed 25 December 2015.
  3. ↑ Ristic, Marija. "Yugoslav Army General Dragoljub Ojdanić Admits Kosovo War Crimes". Balkan Insight. BIRN. Retrieved 29 January 2013.
  4. ↑ Dragoljub Ojdanić granted early release, icty.org; accessed 25 December 2015
Military offices
Preceded by
Momčilo Perišić		 Chief of the General Staff of the Yugoslav Army
26 November 1998–7 February 2000 		Succeeded by
Nebojša Pavković
Preceded by
Pavle Bulatović		 Federal Defence minister of Yugoslavia
7 February – 5 October 2000 		Succeeded by
Slobodan Krapović


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