Vladan Zagrađanin (; born 30 May 1968) is a Serbian politician. He served in the Serbian national assembly from 2016 to 2024 and is now a state secretary in Serbia's ministry of internal affairs. Zagrađanin as a member of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS).
Early life and private career Zagrađanin was born in Sjenica, in what was then the Socialist Republic of Serbia in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. He is a graduate of the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law and now resides in Belgrade.Владан Заграђанин, Socialist Party of Serbia, accessed 3 October 2024.
Zagrađanin was executive director of the public enterprise Srbijašume from 1998 to 2000 and president of the Belgrade Youth Council in the same general period. On 2 April 1999, he broke into the opposition B92 radio station with two associates and took it over in the name of the government."Vladan Zagrađanin, hapšen zbog afere 'Kofer', sada državni sekretar u MUP", N1, 14 October 2024, accessed 26 October 2024. The following year, the European Union identified him as a prominent supporter of Slobodan Milošević's administration and included him on a travel ban."Prosireni spisak lica koja ne mogu dobiti vize za zemlje EU", B92, 1 March 2000, accessed 3 October 2024.
He was later a member of the board of directors of the State Lottery of Serbia from 2004 to 2006.Vladan Zagrađanin, Socialist Party of Serbia, accessed 20 July 2018. He is kum to Socialist Party leader Ivica Dačić."Serbia: Friendships among politicians often cross ideological divides," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 7 May 2010 (Source: Vecernje novosti, Belgrade, in Serbian 1 May 10).
Politician Early years Zagrađanin joined the Socialist Party of Serbia on its formation in 1990. From 2003 to 2006, he was the party's business director.Vladan Zagrađanin, Socialist Party of Serbia, accessed 20 July 2018.
He received the seventy-ninth position on the SPS's electoral list in the 2003 Serbian parliamentary election and was not chosen for a mandate when the list won twenty-two seats.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 28. децембра 2003. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (9. СОЦИЈАЛИСТИЧКА ПАРТИЈА СРБИЈЕ - СЛОБОДАН МИЛОШЕВИЋ), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 3 October 2024. (From 2000 to 2011, Serbian parliamentary mandates were awarded to sponsoring parties or coalitions rather than to individual candidates, and it was common practice for the mandates to be assigned out of numerical order. He could have been given a seat in parliament despite his low position on the list, but this did not occur.)Serbia's Law on the Election of Representatives (2000) stipulated that parliamentary mandates would be awarded to electoral lists (Article 80) that crossed the electoral threshold (Article 81), that mandates would be given to candidates appearing on the relevant lists (Article 83), and that the submitters of the lists were responsible for selecting their parliamentary delegations within ten days of the final results being published (Article 84). See Law on the Election of Representatives, Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, No. 35/2000, made available via LegislationOnline, , accessed 28 March 2024.
Zagrađanin was arrested in January 2006 for allegedly attempting to bribe National Bank of Serbia deputy director Dejan Simić with 100,000 Euros to reinstate the Kreditno-Eksportna Banka's operating permit."Agency profiles Serbian Central Bank governor," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 11 October 2007 (Source: Beta Week, Belgrade, in English 11 Oct 07). This case attracted international attention"Judge orders a month's detention for Central Bank deputy governor, Socialist official," Associated Press Newswires, 14 January 2006.Misha Savic, "Serbian police arrest Central Bank's deputy chief," Canadian Press, 12 January 2006."Serbian Central Bank's Deputy Governor Fired After Arrest," Dow Jones International News, 16 January 2008. and was dubbed the "suitcase affair" in the Serbian media as the money had been found in a suitcase. Both Simić and Zagrađanin were acquitted by the Higher Court of Belgrade in May 2010,"Suitcase Affair defendants acquitted", B92, 21 May 2010, accessed 20 July 2018. and the acquittal was upheld by the Belgrade Court of Appeal in 2011."Apelacioni sud potvrdio presude za aferu 'Kofer', Politika, 8 February 2011, accessed 20 July 2018. During the trial, Ivica Dačić testified that he believed Simić and Zagrađanin had been unfairly targeted.Aleksandar Lazić, "Ivica Dačić – talentovani političar koji se pretvorio u policajca", Nova srpska politička misao, 11 July 2011, accessed 20 July 2018.
Serbia's electoral system was reformed in 2011, such that all parliamentary mandates were awarded to candidates on successful lists in numerical order.Law on the Election of Members of the Parliament (2000, as amended 2011) (Articles 88 & 92) made available via LegislationOnline, , accessed 6 June 2021. Zagrađanin received the sixty-fourth position on the Socialist Party's list for the 2014 parliamentary election and was not elected when the list won forty-four mandates.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 16. и 23. марта 2014. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (2 ИВИЦА ДАЧИЋ - "Социјалистичка партија Србије (СПС), Партија уједињених пензионера Србије (ПУПС), Јединствена Србија (ЈС)"), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 3 April 2024.
Parliamentarian (2016–present) Zagrađanin was promoted to the twentieth position on the Socialist Party's electoral list for the 2016 parliamentary election and was this time elected to the assembly when the list won twenty-nine seats.Избори за народне посланике 2016. године – Изборне листе (3 ИВИЦА ДАЧИЋ – „Социјалистичка партија Србије (СПС), Јединствена Србија (ЈС) – Драган Марковић Палма“), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 27 October 2021. The Socialists continued their participation in a coalition government led by the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) after the election, and Zagrađanin supported the ministry in the assembly. In his first term, he was a member of the assembly's defence and internal affairs committee, a deputy member of the security services control committee, and a member of the parliamentary friendship groups with Austria, Belarus, Belgium, China, Germany, Japan, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Russia, Turkey, and the United States of America.VLADAN ZAGRADjANIN, , National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 3 October 2024.
In July 2017, Zagrađanin was chosen as president of the Socialist Party's executive committee.Владан Заграђанин, Socialist Party of Serbia, accessed 3 October 2024.Miloš D. Milijković, "Vladan Zagrađanin: A od kuma – Izvršni odbor", Danas, 24 July 2019, accessed 3 October 2024.
He appeared in the twenty-first position on the SPS's list in the 2020 parliamentary election and was re-elected when the list won thirty-two seats."Ko je sve na listi SPS-JS za republičke poslanike?", Danas, 7 March 2020, accessed 30 April 2021. In the assembly that followed, he was promoted to deputy chair of the security services control committee and was a member of the judiciary committee and the defence and international affairs committee, the head of Serbia's parliamentary friendship group with Paraguay, and a member of the friendship groups with China, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.VLADAN ZAGRADjANIN, , National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 3 October 2024.
Zagrađanin was promoted to the ninth position on the SPS's list in the 2022 parliamentary election and was elected to a third term when the list won thirty-one seats."Ko su kandidati liste SPS-JS-ZS „Ivica Dačić – Premijer Srbije“ za poslanike", Danas, 17 February 2022, accessed 28 April 2022. He held the same committee assignments as in the previous parliament, was one of Serbia's delegates to the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy, led the parliamentary friendship group with New Zealand and the Pacific Ocean countries (Vanuatu, Tuvalu, Fiji, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands), and was a member of thirty other friendship groups.VLADAN ZAGRADjANIN, , National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 3 October 2024.
For the 2023 Serbian parliamentary election, he received the sixth position on the SPS list and was re-elected even as the list fell to eighteen seats overall."Lista SPS-JS-Zeleni Srbije bez iznenađenja- osim Marka Miloševića sve provereni kadrovi", Danas, 4 November 2023, accessed 28 March 2024. He remains deputy chair of the security services control committee and is a member of the committee on constitutional and legislatives issues, a deputy member of the defence and internal affairs committee, and a member of the parliamentary friendship groups with the Benelux, China, Greece, Italy and the Holy See, and Switzerland.VLADAN ZAGRADJANIN, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia], accessed 3 October 2024. The SPS has continued its participation in Serbia's SNS-led government throughout his time in parliament.
He continues to serve as president of the SPS's executive board and is a member of the party presidency.Владан Заграђанин, Socialist Party of Serbia, accessed 3 October 2024.
State Secretary Zagrađanin was appointed as a state secretary in Serbia's ministry of internal affairs on 10 October 2024."Od lutrije, preko koferčeta do policije: Ko je Vladan Zagrađanin, novi državni sekretar MUP-a?", Danas, 14 October 2024, accessed 26 October 2024. He was required to resign from the national assembly on accepting this position.Current Legislature, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 25 November 2024.
Notes
References