Željko Kopanja
| Željko Kopanja | |
|---|---|
| Born |
21 October 1954 Kotor Varoš, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia (present-day Kotor Varoš, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republika Srpska) |
| Died | 8 August 2016 (aged 61) Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| Nationality | Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| Occupation | Journalist |
| Organization | Nezavisne Novine |
| Known for | 1999 car bomb attack |
| Awards |
CPJ International Press Freedom Awards (2000) Hellman-Hammett grant (2000) |
Željko Kopanja (21 October 1954 – 8 August 2016) was a Bosnian Serb newspaper editor and director of the newspaper Nezavisne Novine. The Christian Science Monitor described him as an equal critic of all parties without regard to ethnicity and "probably the most feared journalist in Bosnia and Herzegovina." On August 8, 2016 Željko Kopanja died from a cardiac arrest.
In October 1999, he lost both legs in a car bomb attack in apparent retaliation for his reporting on war crimes by Bosnian Serbs.
Kopanja was born in Kotor Varoš, Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1954. He held a degree in economics from University of Banja Luka. He also was a professional player of association football. He began his journalist career with the Banja Luka's daily newspaper Glas before the Bosnian War and then reported about criminal doings of Republika Srpska during the war for Belgrade's weekly newspaper Telegraf.
In 1995, shortly after the Dayton Agreement which ended the Bosnian War, Kopanja co-founded Nezavisne Novine, a weekly independent newspaper, in order to "foster improved relationships among Serbs, Muslims and Croats in Bosnia". The magazine was funded in part by the United States Agency for International Development, per a part of the Dayton Agreement which had called for funding for non-nationalist media. Beginning with a circulation of 4,000, the newspaper later became a daily, and its circulation climbed to 18,000 in the next five years.
In August 1999, Nezavisne Novine broke new ground by reporting on the murder of 200 Muslim civilians by Serbian police officers in 1992. With the report, the paper became the first Bosnian Serb paper to report on war crimes by Bosnian Serbs during the Yugoslav Wars. At the same time, he stated that he "stands by the thesis that no nation is genocidal or criminal, but individuals from certain nations are. I think that the Serbian people do not deserve to carry this burden ... I do not allow anyone to commit war crimes in my name or in the name of my people, nor does anyone have the right to do that."
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