MOMČILO KRAJIŠNIK - FIRST SPEAKER OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

BIJELJINA, SEPTEMBER 14 /SRNA/ - Momčilo Krajišnik /1945–2020/, the first Speaker of the National Assembly of Republika Srpska and one of the politicians most responsible for the creation of Republika Srpska, died on September 15, 2020.

Krajišnik was the Speaker of the first multi-party convocation of the Assembly of the SR of BiH and subsequently became the first Speaker of the National Assembly of Republika Srpska.

On October 25, 1991, Momčilo Krajišnik was also elected the Speaker of the Assembly of the Serb People of BiH, and then of the Assembly of Republika Srpska.

In May 1993, Krajišnik was the decisive factor in preventing the Assembly from abandoning Republika Srpska and accepting the division of BiH into cantons, under pressure from then Serbian President Slobodan Milošević and Western diplomats.

He also served as the Serb member of the BiH Presidency, a position he lost in the 1998 election, when sacks containing tens of thousands of Bosniak votes arrived from abroad.

Momčilo Krajišnik firmly defended the positions of Republika Srpska, prompting international mediators to call him "Mr No" because of his intransigence.

The Hague Tribunal sentenced him to 20 years in prison for war crimes, although it was never proven that he had ordered or participated in any crimes.

It was a punishment for his role in the creation of Republika Srpska, for which many Serbs were convicted by the Hague Tribunal.