16 years since the assassination of Zoran Djindjic: A day that changed Serbia forever

It has been 16 years since the murder of the first Democratic Mayor of Belgrade, the prime minister of Serbia and the leader of Democratic party Zoran Djindjic.

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The members of the family, representatives of the Democratic party and the members of the government he has led will mark the anniversary on the New Cemetery in the Alley of Meritorious Citizens. They will place flowers on the memorial plaque in the yard of the Government, where the assassination of Zoran Djindjic took place.

They stated from the Democratic party that they will announce the winner of the internet competition "Zoran Djindjic Hackathon", which is organized in the Cultural Center of Belgrade instead of the competition "Sermons in Zoran's honor".

"The walk for Zoran" will be organized in the center of Belgrade which will start at 18:00 at the Faculty of Philosophy.

Foto: Milena Đorđević

Djindjic was born in Bosanski Samac (today's Samac), on August 1, 1952. After graduating from elementary school he came to Belgrade, where he graduated from Ninth Gymnasium. After that, he studied philosophy on the university in Belgrade, and he was interested in lectures from the history of art, sociology, and economy. Politics, for which he said that people shouldn't stress about it, fascinated him during the student days.

After the fall of Slobodan Milosevic in 2000, on January 25th, 2001, he was chosen as the prime minister. He was assassinated in front of the Serbian Government, on March 12th, 2003. Milorad Ulemek and Zvezdan Jovanovic were sentenced to 40 years in prison. 12 more people were sentenced to long prison sentences, and the political background of the murder was never revealed.

70 foreign state delegations, associates and hundreds of thousands of citizens attended the funeral.

He left behind his wife Ruzica and two children, Jovana and Luka. Several streets, squares, and monuments carry the name of Zoran Djindjic.

(Telegraf.co.uk)