Borislav Pelević ( sr-cyr, Борислав Пелевић; 22 November 1956 – 25 October 2018) was a Serbian politician. He was president of the nationalist

Party of Serbian Unity The Party of Serbian Unity (; abbr. SSJ) was a far-right, ultranationalist political party in Serbia founded by Željko Ražnatović. After its merging into the Serbian Radical Party, the Council of Serbian Unity was the formed to be the par ...

(SSJ), a party with marginal importance in Serbian politics, until it merged with the

Serbian Radical Party The Serbian Radical Party (, abbr. SRS) is a Far-right politics in Serbia, far-right, Ultranationalism, ultranationalist List of political parties in Serbia, political party in Serbia. Founded in 1991, its co-founder, first and only leader is ...

in December 2007.

Military and political career

Pelević was a commander of the

Serb Volunteer Guard The Serb Volunteer Guard, SDG. Also known as Arkan's Tigers () or Arkan's men (). was an elite Serbian volunteer paramilitary unit founded and led by Željko Ražnatović (better known as "Arkan"). It was recognized for its superior bearing an ...

paramilitary during the

Croatian War of Independence The Croatian War of Independence) and (rarely) "War in Krajina" ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Рат у Крајини, Rat u Krajini) are used. was an armed conflict fought in Croatia from 1991 to 1995 between Croats, Croat forces loyal to the Governmen ...

, serving at the

Erdut Erdut () is a village and a municipality in eastern Croatia some 37 km east of the major city of Osijek. Lying on the border with neighbouring Serbia, it was the site of the signing of the 1995 Erdut Agreement, which initiated the UNTAES tr ...

training camp. He was also a presidential candidate in

September September is the ninth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 30 days. September in the Northern Hemisphere and March in the Southern Hemisphere are seasonally equivalent. In the Northern hemisphere, the b ...

and December 2002 and in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

. He was elected to the

National Assembly of Serbia The National Assembly ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Народна скупштина, Narodna skupština, ), fully the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia (), is the unicameral legislature of Serbia. The assembly is composed of 250 deputies who are ...

on the

list twice, in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

and

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

. After the party's deputy leader,

Tomislav Nikolić Tomislav Nikolić ( sr-Cyrl, Томислав Николић, ; born 15 February 1952) is a Serbian former politician who served as the president of Serbia from 2012 to 2017. A former member of the far-right Serbian Radical Party (SRS), he di ...

, resigned from the SRS and formed the new

Serbian Progressive Party The Serbian Progressive Party (, SNS) is a major populist, catch-all party, catch-all List of political parties in Serbia, political party in Serbia. It has been the Ruling party, ruling party since 2012. Miloš Vučević, the former prime mi ...

, Pelević left the SRS and joined Nikolić's group. He was elected MP on the SNS ballot in the 2012 election but soon developed disagreements over SNS policies on

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

and the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

, eventually leaving the SNS and becoming an independent MP. On 21 January 2013, the SSJ party was re-founded as the Council of Serbian Unity by Pelević, Slobodan Radosavljević and Jelena Kostić in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

. The new party took part in the 2014 parliamentary election as part of the Patriotic Front, but failed to reach the 5% threshold.

Death

He died on 25 October 2018, after a long illness.

References

1956 births 2018 deaths Politicians from Peja Kosovo Serbs Members of the National Assembly (Serbia) Serbian Progressive Party politicians Serbian Radical Party politicians Candidates for President of Serbia Serbian soldiers Military personnel of the Croatian War of Independence Serbian nationalists Party of Serbian Unity politicians Council of Serbian Unity politicians Military personnel from Peja {{Serbia-politician-stub