Dragan Veselinov

Who is Dragan Veselinov?

Dragan Veselinov 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.

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.