Srđan Dizdarević

Srđan Dizdarević (29 September 1952 – 16 February 2016) was a Bosnian journalist, diplomat, and activist. Born into a prominent Bosniak political family of diplomats, Dizdarević graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Sarajevo in 1976 and entered politics. As a diplomat, he was the first secretary of the Embassy of Yugoslavia in Paris, and in 1991 he returned to Bosnia and Herzegovina. He also worked as the assistant editor-in-chief of the newspaper Oslobođenje and was a member of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1995, becoming the committee's president in 2005, serving until 2014. He died of severe pneumonia in 2016.

Early life Srđan Dizdarević was born on 29 September 1952 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, while the country was a Yugoslav republic. He stems from a prominent Bosnian anti-fascist family of Bosniak heritage, whose members are former politicians and diplomats. His father Nijaz Dizdarević was a former ambassador to Baghdad, Algiers and Paris; his uncle Faik Dizdarević was a longtime ambassador to Tehran, Algiers and Madrid; and his other uncle Raif Dizdarević was a foreign minister of Yugoslavia and the president of the Presidency of both socialist Bosnia and Herzegovina and Yugoslavia.

Srđan Dizdarević graduated in 1976 from the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Sarajevo. and studied political science in Paris. During his university years he was responsible for the international relations of the Young Socialists' Association.

Human rights activist After the Bosnian war, in 1995, he got engaged in civil society initiatives. He is remembered as "a prominent defender of human rights and freedoms in BiH, a sharp critic of crime and corruption and determined advocate of peace and coexistence."

He was elected the first president of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2005, a position he held until 2014; he was also a member of the Association of Independent Intellectuals Circle 99; She preceded him in death by seven months, dying on 18 July 2015. Together they had two children; a daughter Sandra, and a son Davorin.

Death Dizdarević died at age 63 of a severe pneumonia in Sarajevo on 16 February 2016.