Svetozar Marović facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Svetozar Marović
Светозар Маровић
Marović in 2004
President of Serbia and Montenegro
In office 7 March 2003 – 3 June 2006
Preceded by	Vojislav Koštunica (as President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia)
Succeeded by	Position abolished; Boris Tadić (as President of Serbia) Filip Vujanović (as President of Montenegro)
Deputy Prime Minister of Montenegro
In office 11 June 2009 – 29 December 2010
Prime Minister	Milo Đukanović
Succeeded by	Duško Marković
Chairman of the Council of Ministers
In office 7 March 2003 – 3 June 2006
Preceded by	Dragiša Pešić
Succeeded by	Position abolished
President of the Parliament of Montenegro
In office 12 December 1994 – 7 June 2001
Prime Minister	Milo Đukanović Filip Vujanović
Preceded by	Risto Vukčević
Succeeded by	Vesna Perović
Personal details
Born	(1955-03-31) 31 March 1955 (age 69) Kotor, PR Montenegro, FPR Yugoslavia
Political party	DPS (1991–2016) SKCG (until 1991)
Spouses	Đorđina "Đina" Marović (née Prelević)
Children	2 (including Miloš Marović)
Residences	Belgrade, Serbia
Alma mater	Veljko Vlahović University
Profession	Lawyer, politician

Svetozar Marović (Serbo-Croat Cyrillic: Светозар Маровић; born 31 March 1955) is a Montenegrin lawyer and politician who served as the last head of state and head of government of Serbia and Montenegro from 2003 until Montenegro's declaration of independence in 2006.

On 15 December 2015, he was arrested in Montenegro for charges of corruption, and on 18 August 2017, his family's assets were frozen. He currently resides in Serbia, where he fled, just before he was found guilty in 2017. Montenegro has repeatedly requested his extradition from Serbia.

In April 2022, Marović was added to the US Treasury's Specially Designated Nationals List of individuals facing Balkans-related sanctions.

Early life

Svetozar Marović was born on 31 March 1955 in Kotor to Jovo Marović and Ivana Marović (née Pavić). His father was a native of the Grbalj region. Marović finished elementary and high school in his hometown, going on to receive his degree from Veljko Vlahović University's Faculty of Law in Titograd (now Podgorica).

Early political career

Marović began his career as a paralegal in the local parliament of Budva. He served as president of the Socialist Youth Union of Budva, soon becoming president of the Socialist Youth Union of Montenegro. During this time, he attracted controversy for holding an outdoor meeting of the presidency where he spoke up against the old guard of the party, as well as for publishing a brochure titled "Stop Electoral Fraud" in 1984.

He was dismissed from Titograd and went back to Budva, where he became Administrator of Public Revenues, before becoming president of the local government. During this time, he renovated Budva following the earthquake in 1979, starting the Theatre City Budva (Budva Grad teatar) project in 1987 with theatre director Ljubiša Ristić.

Anti-bureaucratic revolution

In January 1989, Marović seized power over the Socialist Republic of Montenegro together with his partners, Momir Bulatović and Milo Đukanović, in an administrative putsch within the League of Communists of Montenegro. With the blessings of the Serbian Communists' leader, Slobodan Milošević, it became known as the "anti-bureaucratic revolution". Marović participated after having stepped down from his position as president of the local government in Budva.

After the first multi-party parliamentary election in 1990, at which the Communist League of Montenegro (SKCG) won the majority, he became a member of Montenegro's parliament, and later served as speaker for three terms. A couple of months after their election win, SKCG was repackaged into the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS).

Presidency 2003–2006

Marović and Collin Powell, United States Secretary of State in 2003

One of the chambers inside the Palace of the Federation, seat of the President and Council of Ministers of Serbia and Montenegro

As President of Serbia and Montenegro's loose state union, the position Marović found himself in was complicated. DPS, Marović‘s party, was the leading force of the Montenegrin separatist movement, and his party president, Milo Đukanović, a notable Montenegrin nationalist. It was difficult for Marović to reconcile the views of his administration with his duties as president.

Beginning on 7 March 2003, Marović's term in office as President of Serbia-Montenegro involved reconciliation with Croatian and Bosnian citizens. Marović was involved in a military equipment scandal that erupted in September 2005.

Apologies

On 10 September 2003, during Croatian president Stjepan Mesić's state visit to Belgrade, Marović delivered a public apology for "all evils done by any citizen of Montenegro and Serbia to anyone in Croatia". Mesić followed suit, delivering a counter-apology to "anyone whom citizens of Croatia caused any pain or damage, anytime, anyplace."

This was particularly significant because it was in contrast to his views from the beginning of the 1990s when he was the author of an infamous phrase: "war for peace," which is how he described and justified the Montenegrin reservists' assault on Dubrovnik and Konavle in 1991.

On 13 November 2003, he visited Sarajevo and issued another apology, this time to the citizens of Bosnia-Herzegovina on the behalf of Serbia-Montenegro, for "any evil or calamity that anyone in Bosnia-Herzegovina suffered at the hands of anyone from Serbia-Montenegro". Unlike Stipe Mesić few months prior, Marović's Sarajevo hosts, members of Bosnia's 3-man rotating Presidency weren't moved to reciprocate with any kind of an apology.

2006 Montenegrin independence vote

Marović's political party, the DPS, backed full independence for Montenegro, and Marović campaigned for a "yes" vote in the 2006 referendum on Montenegrin independence. This put him in the unique position of supporting the breakup of the state in which he was the head. In the wake of the referendum passing, Marović said that on 1 June 2006, he would "hold the last session of the Council of Ministers and resign...from the post of the president of the state union."

Post-presidency

In 2007, Svetozar was re-elected vice-president of the Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro with a new agenda. During the conflicts between the Serbian Orthodox Church and the uncanonical Montenegrin Orthodox Church, Marović stated support of the SOC, being the one recognized. In October 2007, he led the DPS-SDP negotiations team on the table to reach a consensus on the new Montenegrin Constitution. The agreement was that the official language will be called Montenegrin, with both Latin and Cyrillic as official; Serbian, Bosnian, Albanian, and Croatian were recognized. Montenegro will be the state of the Montenegrin people, while Serbs, Bosniaks, Albanians, and Croats will be also mentioned in the Constitution. The Church will be separate from the state, none of them mentioned. Montenegrin citizens will not be able to have dual citizenship, however those who have before the adoption of the Declaration of Independence had multiple citizenships will keep it, effectively leaving the Montenegrins in Serbia unable to hold dual citizenship.

Arrest and exile

In 2016, Svetozar Marović, then Deputy President of ruling Democratic Party of Socialists was arrested in connection to a long-running corruption case concerning his hometown of Budva. The Montenegrin prosecutor's office labeled him as "head of Budva criminal group," which he later admitted in court. He eventually fled to neighboring Serbia for alleged psychiatric treatment in Belgrade, where he currently resides. Montenegro has repeatedly requested his extradition from Serbia.

In August 2020, Marović spoke to the media for the first time, after fleeing to Belgrade, accusing the leadership of the party he founded of corruption, nepotism, partocracy and authoritarianism, also accusing President Đukanović of rigging the corruption process against him and members of his family.

He supported Bishop Amfilohije Radović and the 2019–2020 clerical protests in Montenegro, as well endorsing opposition parties at 2020 parliamentary election which resulted in victory for opposition parties.

Positions held

See also

In Spanish: Svetozar Marović para niños