(; 25 December 1922 – 2 June 1999) was a Serbian hotel owner in Argentina, who was a participant of World War II in Yugoslavia initially as a member of the Partisan and later the Chetnik movement, and claimed to have shot former Croatian leader and dictator in Argentina in 1957. died in Madrid, Spain from his injuries two years later.
Biography
was born in near in today's Montenegro. During World War II, he initially fought for the Yugoslav Partisans and then the Chetniks, as a member of the Bjelopavlić Chetnik Brigade.
World War II
At the time when World War II started, he was serving in , near the Greek-Yugoslav border. When war broke out, reportedly returned to his birthplace, in . In July 1941, he took part in an antifascist uprising against Italian forces and later participated in the Battle of Pljevlja as a member of the Partisans. He later switched allegiances and fought for the Chetniks under the command of , who collaborated with Fascist Italy.
In September 1944, he was part of the delegation led by and , the latter being a royal Yugoslav naval officer. They were sent from across the Adriatic Sea to to negotiate with the British. There they were informed about the Allied change of support in favour of Tito's Partisans as a result of the agreement with Joseph Stalin at the Tehran Conference and they stayed in Italy until the remainder of the war. In 1948, emigrated to Argentina with the help of .
In Argentina, was known as the founder of the Serbian Orthodox community “Saint Sava”, and one of the founders of the Organisation of Fighters “” as well as the member of the Board of the “” association.
Assassination of Pavelić
While living in Argentina and running a successful hotel enterprise that he owned, he received tips about 's whereabouts in Argentina. In the assassination attempt, received assistance from several people including and , an associate of . There are differing versions of how the attempted assassination unfolded.
died on 28 December 1959 in Madrid from complications resulting from his wounds.
In 1998, a book about Jovović's claims was published by Tihomir-Tiho Burzanović. In 1999, went to Yugoslavia for the first time since he left and visited Ostrog, where he met with the Metropolitan of Montenegro . It was there that he first publicly claimed that he was the person responsible for the attempted assassination of . By 's own account, he acted on his own, independent of the Yugoslav or any other secret services, stating that he wanted to kill in order to "avenge Serbian victims" from the "greatest butcher of Serbs".
Given the scarcity of reliable information surrounding 's assassination attempt, it is difficult to ascertain whether was in fact the assassin and whether or not he was acting on behalf of the Yugoslav State Security Service (UDBA). It is however known that UDBA was interested in either abducting or killing him. Most Croat émigrés believed that the Yugoslav state was behind the assassination attempt. A 1992 book () by writer and publicist describes a UDBA agent named "" as 's assassin, who was acting on instructions from the Yugoslav diplomatic and consular mission in Argentina.
Mate Nikola Tokić of the Central European University writes that was the most likely assailant. Conversely, the Montenegrin historian and politician Novak Adžić has disputed the theory of as the assassin, citing the lack of primary documents and mentions of anywhere prior to his alleged confession in 1999, as well as the fact that the post-World War II Chetnik emigration never mentioned it either.
Death died on 2 June 1999 in , Argentina.
Memorials In 2020, a street in Belgrade was renamed after . A memorial plaque was also installed. A mural of him can be found in , New Belgrade.
The upcoming Serbian film The hand of justice (sr. Ruka pravde) tells the story of Jovović's assassination plot.
See also
, legendary assassin of Ottoman Sultan Murad I , assassin of Austrian Archduke
References