Puniša Račić

Puniša Račić
Puniša Račić, c. 1925
Member of Parliament in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
In office 27 September 1927 – 20 June 1928
Personal details
Born	(1886-07-12)12 July 1886 Slatina, Andrijevica, Principality of Montenegro
Died	16 October 1944(1944-10-16) (aged 58) Belgrade, Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia
Political party	People's Radical Party (NRS)

Puniša Račić (Serbian Cyrillic: Пуниша Рачић; 12 July 1886 – 16 October 1944) was a Serb leader and People's Radical Party (NRS) politician who assassinated Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) representatives Pavle Radić and Đuro Basariček, and mortally wounded HSS leader Stjepan Radić in a shooting which took place on the floor of the parliament of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes on 20 June 1928. He was tried and handed a sixty-year sentence, which was immediately reduced to twenty years. He served most of his sentence under house arrest and was killed by the Yugoslav Partisans in October 1944.

Puniša Račić was born on 12 July 1886 in the village of Slatina, near Andrijevica, Principality of Montenegro. He entered the employ of politician Nikola Pašić as a sixteen-year-old in 1902. Pašić regarded Račić as a son and encouraged his political ambitions. Račić became active in Serbian nationalist circles and claimed to have organized assassination attempts against King Ferdinand I of Bulgaria, King Constantine I of Greece and Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany. Following World War I, he earned a reputation for suppressing pro-Bulgarian movements in Macedonia. He was one of many Chetnik leaders who formed Serbian cultural societies in the region. On 27 September 1927, he was elected to the parliament of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes as a representative of the People's Radical Party (NRS).