Bogić Bogićević

Bogićević was born into an ethnic Serb family in the Eastern Bosnian town of Ugljevik.

He was elected member of the Presidency of Yugoslavia by a referendum of the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina on 25 June 1989, among five candidates, thus becoming the first democratically elected member of the collective Yugoslav Presidency. In addition, he served as President of Yugoslavia's Federal Council for the Protection of the Constitutional Order.[1]

On 12 March 1991, Bogićević famously defied fellow Presidency members from Serbia on a vote which would have imposed martial law in Yugoslavia. Formally, the military leadership proposed raising combat readiness, but the real goal was to introduce military rule in Slovenia and Croatia and to overthrow the new political leaderships of Kiro Gligorov in Macedonia and of Alija Izetbegović in his native Bosnia and Herzegovina. [2][3] The pro-Milošević faction, which already controlled the Presidency votes from Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia, counted on his vote as a fellow Serb. Bogićević rejected the proposal, and thus by one vote, the Yugoslav Presidency rejected the imposition of martial law.[4] He reportedly commented on his vote, which historians deemed "fateful": "I am a Serb, but not by profession".[5] His decision was decried by the Serbian Democratic Party, who claimed that Bogićević did not represent the Serbs,[6] and he was deprived of his presidential salary as a punishment. He later started working for the Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina (SDP BiH).[2]

Together with Macedonian Presidency member Vasil Tupurkovski, In July 1991 Bogićević mediated negotiations between the Slovenian government and the JNA Supreme Command on the release of recruits and the unblocking of barracks during the Ten-Day War between the Slovenian Territorial Defence and the Yugoslav People's Army. [3]

Bogićević spent the wartime period between 1992 to 1995 in Sarajevo under siege. He was a member of the House of Representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and vice president of SDP BiH.[5]

In post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bogićević was the vice-president of the Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and president of the Olympic Committee of Bosnia and Herzegovina.[5] A poll conducted by the Dani newspaper in 1998 to survey the population of Sarajevo, Banja Luka and West Mostar found that Bogićević was among the most popular politicians in West Mostar and Sarajevo.[7] In 2003 he founded the consulting company Fides, dealing with market research.[8]

On 20 November 2020, Bogićević announced he would accept the appointment as mayor of Sarajevo by the four-party liberal-leftist coalition set to govern the City Concil after the local elections.[9]

• In 1999 he received a Plaque of Humanism, award given by the Permanent Committee of the International League of Humanists.
• In 2002 the Croatian President Stjepan Mesić has awarded him the "Order of Prince Trpimir with necklace and Danica" for his significant contribution to the independence and integrity of the Republic of Croatia and the efforts to achieve a peaceful solution among Yugoslavian republics during the struggle for independence.
• In 2004 he received Silver Order of Freedom of the Republic of Slovenia with the following explanation: "for his contribution for the benefit of Slovenia at the time of struggle for independence, the personal contribution to friendly cooperation between Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina and the strengthening of economic relations".[10]
• In 2006 International Centre for Peace Sarajevo awarded him with traditional award "Freedom".