Mirko Aksentijević

Mirko "Bata" Aksentijević (; 13 August 1922 – 15 March 2011) was a Serbian journalist and basketball executive. He was the first president of KK Crvena zvezda.

Journalism career Aksentijević graduated from the journalistic and diplomatic school and has been engaged in journalism since 1948. From the beginning of his journalistic career he worked in the Tanjug Agency, firstly in the domestic politic department, and since 1950 in the foreign policy section.

Aksentijević was reporting from Greece, Republic of the Congo and Lebanon. He was an outstanding connoisseur not only for the Palestinian problem but also and the Kurdish issue. During his journalistic career, he met with numerous foreign politicians, intellectuals, cultural and sports figures he interviewed and whose work he wrote.

At the beginning of the 1960s, Aksentijević was the eyewitness of the end of the Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba. His report from Congo in 1960, about the overthrow of Prime Minister Lumumba, was the first which spread the news around the world. Aksentijević was the last journalist, and perhaps the last man who talked with Lumumba before he was executed on 17 January 1961.

Aksentijević was the first foreign journalist to meet with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in Palestinian bases in Jordan in 1968. Due to wounding during World War II, Aksentijević was not able to play basketball so he completely devoted himself to the club's work organization. Aksentijević was the first president of the Crvena zvezda basketball club. Globalno, a nije svetsko (2005)