Petar Jojić (; born 12 July 1938) is a Serbian politician. He has served several terms in the National Assembly of Serbia as a member of the far-right Serbian Radical Party and was justice minister for the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1999 to 2000.
Private career Jojić is a lawyer based in Pančevo in the Serbian province of Vojvodina.PETAR JOJIC, National Assembly of Serbia, 27 July 2017.
Political career Yugoslav parliamentarian Jojić was elected to the Assembly of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's Chamber of Citizens in the 1996 election.Izbori 2012, pancevac-online.rs, accessed 27 July 2017. It may be reasonably assumed that Jojić was elected for the Pančevo division, where the Radical Party won one mandate; see ИЗБОРИ '96: ВЕЋЕ ГРАЂАНА САВЕЗНЕ СКУПШТИНЕ, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Department of Statistics (1996), p. 41. The Radical Party won sixteen seats and initially served in opposition to a governing alliance led by the Socialist Party of Serbia and its Montenegrin allies.
Yugoslav cabinet minister The Radical Party joined the government of Yugoslavia in August 1999, shortly after the conclusion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)'s bombing of Yugoslavia in the context of the Kosovo War. Six members of the Radical Party became cabinet ministers in the government of Momir Bulatović on 12 August 1999, including Jojić in the justice portfolio."Milosevic shores up government with Serb nationalists," Agence France Press, 12 August 1999.
Kosovo and Metohija In late August 1999, Jojić accused the international military and civilian missions operating in Kosovo and Metohija (Kosovo Force (KFOR) and the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK)) of failing to honour the terms of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 on the breakaway province. He argued that Yugoslav authorities were justified in insisting on a Yugoslav army and Serbian police presence at the main border crossings, stating that over one hundred thousand guerrilla fighters had crossed the border from Albania into Kosovo."Yugoslav justice minister calls for army's return to Kosovo borders," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European - Political, 17 August 1999 Source: Tanjug news agency, Belgrade, in Serbo-Croat 1233 gmt 27 Aug 99. He also accused the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and Germany of being accomplices in acts of violence directed against the Kosovo Serb population."Yugoslav justice minister says army could restore peace in Kosovo in five days," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European - Political, 27 August 1999 (Source: Beta news agency, Belgrade, in Serbo-Croat 1305 gmt 27 Aug 99).
Jojić later indicated Yugoslavia's strong opposition to the creation of the Kosovo Protection Corps as an officially sanctioned successor group to the Kosovo Liberation Army."Yugoslavia pledges to resist Kosovo Liberation Army transformation by all means," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European - Political, 21 September 1999 (Source: Tanjug news agency, Belgrade, in English 1804 gmt 21 Sep 99). On one occasion, he said that UNMIK leader Bernard Kouchner "does not respect any law, either international law or local law ... and has formed an army of Albanian terrorists.""Opposition leaders appear set to boycott EU meeting," Agence France-Presse, 11 October 1999.
Concerning the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, Jojić remarked that its most important consequences were those pertaining to the breakdown of international law and the violation of Yugoslavia's legal status as a sovereign state and United Nations member."Yugoslav minister, Russian Duma delegation discuss Kosovo 'crimes'," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring Services: Central Europe & Balkans, 2 November 1999 (Source: Tanjug news agency, Belgrade, in English 1826 gmt 31 Oct 99).
Extraditions of accused war criminals Jojić met with representatives of the Association for Criminal Law and Criminology of Yugoslavia on 30 August 1999; the group concluded that the country's constitution and law on criminal procedure did not permit the extradition of Yugoslav civilians to any external country or organization."Yugoslav justice minister rules out extradition," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European - Political, 31 August 1999 (Source: Tanjug news agency, Belgrade, in Serbo-Croat 1336 gmt 30 Aug 99). Jojić later said that he would "personally never allow any citizen in Yugoslavia to be delivered to the so-called court of injustice in The Hague," referring to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia."U.N. prosecutor urges more war crimes arrests," Reuters News, 14 April 2000. In April 2000, he urged the United Nations Security Council to release former Bosnian Serb leader Momčilo Krajišnik from custody in The Hague, saying that he had been arrested "in a terrorist fashion.""Yugoslavia Asks UN to Free Bosnian Serb Leader," Xinhua News Agency, 15 April 2000.
On May 24, 2000, Jojić released a twenty-five-page open letter to the international tribunal that, among other things, described the court as "not an international legal institution but a criminal organization that consists of mercenaries, spies, scumbags, America's and NATO's servants," and accused chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte of "running the dungeon which, like the worst whore, you have sold out to the Americans and to which you bring innocent Serbs by force, by kidnapping and murder."Aleksandar Vasovic, "Yugoslavia sends verbal abuse to U.N. War Crimes Court," Associated Press Newswires, 24 May 2000. This document was widely reported in the international press and has since attained a status of notoriety for its strongly undiplomatic language.See for instance Vesna Peric Zimonjic, "Kostunica defied over amnesty for dissidents," The Independent, 27 October 2000, p. 19; Ed Vulliamy, "Carla del Ponte - Avenging angel," The Observer, 4 March 2001, p. 27; "Neue Aufgabe für Ex-UN-Chefanklägerin," Deutsche Welle, 3 October 2012.
Yugoslav law and related matters Days after his appointment as justice minister, Jojić warned leaders of a planned opposition rally in Belgrade that the state would respond with "all available means" if protesters committed any acts of violence. While he advised opposition leaders (some of whom he described as "Western stooges") that they had a legal right to hold the rally, he added that state institutions would be obligated to take "timely and effective" measures if "the smallest incident, or an attempt to instigate violence" occurred.See " Belgrade warns of tough response to rally trouble," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring Newsfile, 15 August 1999 (Source: Pancevo Radio in Serbo-Croat 15 Aug 99). This was widely interpreted at an attempt at intimidation, though in the event the opposition rally took place without incident on August 19, 1999.
Jojić issued a ruling in June 2000 declining to register the Belgrade branch of the opposition group Otpor! He wrote, "the applicants have been acting illegally for some time and in violation of our regulations, for instance by organizing public meetings and inciting citizens to revolt in order to bring down the constitutional system.""Yugoslav authorities refuse to register Belgrade branch of Resistance," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European - Political, 13 June 2000 (Source: FoNet news agency, Belgrade, in Serbo-Croat 1603 gmt 13 Jun 00).
In September 1999, Jojić said that Yugoslavia's new penal code (which, among other things, abolished capital punishment and replaced it with life sentences), would be valid in the whole of the country – including in Montenegro, where some had questioned its implementation."Yugoslavia says new penal code to be valid in Montenegro," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring Service: Central Europe & Balkans, 20 September 1999 (Source: Radio B2-92, Belgrade, in Serbo-Croat 1500 gmt 17 Sep 99). He later said that the government of Montenegro's amnesty to 14,000 Montenegrin citizens who refused to join the Yugoslav army during the NATO bombing would undermine Yugoslavia's legal system."Yugoslav army officer beaten in Montenegro," Associated Press Newswires, 19 November 1999; James M. Dorsey, "Djukanovic Walks a Fine Line in Montenegro --- Republic Launches Reform While Milosevic Looks On," Wall Street Journal, 22 November 1999, p. 4.
Jojić helped steward the passage of an electoral reform law in July 2000 that, along with other changes, permitted Yugoslav president Slobodan Milošević to seek re-election.Misha Savic, "Yugoslav parliament approves laws to prolong Milosevic's power," Associated Press Newswires, 24 July 2000. He tried in the same period to bring forward an anti-terrorism bill that critics described as severely restricting the civil liberties of Yugoslav citizens, though he withdrew the bill after it was opposed by Radical Party leader Vojislav Šešelj."Yugoslavia politics - A new tool for political repression," The Economist Intelligence Unit – ViewsWire, 8 August 2000.
Jojić's term as justice minister ended on November 4, 2000, soon after the fall of Milošević's government and the election of Vojislav Koštunica as Yugoslav president. Before leaving office, Jojić refused an order from Koštunica to begin clemency hearings for Flora Brovina, a Kosovar Albanian who had been convicted of aiding separatists in Kosovo and Metohija and was widely regarded as a political prisoner."Outgoing justice minister refuses to free human rights activist," Associated Press Newswires, 26 October 2000. (Brovina was released from prison a few days later when Koštunica issued a direct pardon.)"Kosovo Albanian rights activist released from prison," Agence France-Presse, 1 November 2000. After leaving office, Jojić protested against the opening of a Belgrade office of the international tribunal, saying that it would become "a centre for the arrest of national heroes such as Radovan Karadžić and Ratko Mladić.""Serbian Radicals oppose opening of Hague office in Belgrade," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European - Political, 27 November 2000 (Text of report by Croatian news agency HINA).
Member of the National Assembly of Serbia