Zeljko Kopanja was born in 1954 in Kotor Varos. He graduated from the Faculty of Economics and started his journalism career in Glas Srpske. During the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, he worked as a journalist of the Belgrade weekly Telegraf where he published articles on criminal activities of the former government of RS.
After the war, he founded the newspaper Nezavisne novine in Banja Luka with critical views on the rule of Serbian Democratic Party in Republika Srpska but also on the regime of the former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic.
In 1999 Nezavisne novine published articles on war crimes which Serbian paramilitary forces committed in the Bosnian war. After that, Kopanja received threatening letters on his address. A few months later threats were realized when an explosive device was planted under Kopanja's car. Doctors fought for his life, he was clinically dead. He survived but had his legs amputated. The perpetrators of the assassination have still not been discovered.
In November 2000, Kopanja received an award by the Committee to Protect Journalists from New York. The Committee recognizes journalists that show courage in fight for freedom of the media despite the threats, physical assaults and criminal prosecution by the authorities. In the same year, Human Rights Watch awarded him with the Hellman/Hammett grants. They recognize the writers across the world who are victims of political prosecution and in the state of financial need.

• < Prev
• Next >