Alma Zadić

Alma Zadić (born in Tuzla, 24 May 1984) is an Austrian lawyer and politician of the Green Party who has been serving as Minister of Justice in the government of Chancellor Sebastian Kurz since 7 January 2020.[1]

Alma Zadić
Zadić in 2018
Minister of Justice
Assumed office
7 January 2020
ChancellorSebastian Kurz
Preceded byClemens Jabloner
Personal details
Born
Alma Zadić

(1984-05-24) 24 May 1984
Tuzla, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia
Political partyThe Greens – The Green Alternative
Alma materUniversity of Vienna
Columbia University

Early life, education, and early career

In 1994, Zadić fled to Austria with her parents during the Bosnian War and the family settled in Vienna. She has been described as a Muslim, but denies any religious affiliation herself.[2][3]

She studied in Vienna and at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Piacenza before getting a Fulbright scholarship for a postgraduate law degree at Columbia University in New York.[4] While being a student, she worked as a junior legal researcher at the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Vienna and as an intern at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.[3] She was also a competitive volleyball player and fitness coach.[5]

Before entering politics, Zadić worked for six years as a senior associate at the Vienna office of London-headquartered multinational law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer,[3] specialising in human rights issues.[2]

Political career

Zadić ran for the Austrian Green Party in the 2019 Austrian legislative election and was elected to the National Council.[6]

On 7 January 2020, Zadić, along with three other Greens, was sworn in by Austria's president Alexander Van der Bellen to serve in the Sebastian Kurz coalition government as Minister of Justice pursuant to the coalition agreement of Kurz's ÖVP with the Greens, led by Werner Kogler, who serves as Vice Chancellor.[1]

Court process

On social media, Zadić shared a photograph in which a man appeared to be making a Nazi salute, with the comment "No tolerance for neo-Nazis, fascists and racists". In November 2019, she was found guilty of defamation and fined 700 euros by a criminal court in Vienna. Her lawyer has appealed the verdict.[7][8]

References
  1. red, ORF at/Agenturen (2019-12-31). "Alma Zadic: Von JETZT ins Justizministerium". news.ORF.at (in German). Retrieved 2020-01-09.
  2. "Austria minister Alma Zadic targeted by web hate speech". BBC. 9 January 2020. Retrieved 2020-01-23.
  3. "Alma Zadic: The refugee who became a government minister". infomigrants.net. 14 January 2020. Retrieved 2020-01-23.
  4. Katrin Bennhold (February 7, 2020), A Onetime ‘Refugee Child’ Takes On Austria’s Far Right New York Times.
  5. Katrin Bennhold (February 7, 2020), A Onetime ‘Refugee Child’ Takes On Austria’s Far Right New York Times.
  6. "JETZT-Mandatarin Zadic kandidiert für Grüne". news.ORF.at (in German). 2019-07-02. Retrieved 2020-01-09.
  7. "Grünen-Abgeordnete Zadic wegen übler Nachrede verurteilt". Wiener Zeitung (in German). 14 November 2019. Retrieved 2020-01-23.
  8. "Üble Nachrede: Grünen-Abgeordnete Zadic muss 700 Euro zahlen". vienna.at (in German). 14 November 2019. Retrieved 2020-01-23.
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