Zeljko Sevic, the dean at Glasgow Caledonian University’s Business School, was head of department in Serbia’s civil service with a title of “deputy minister for youth” at a time when some of his countrymen were responsible for war crimes against their neighbouring states.
However, the Serb told the Sunday Herald that while he had the title of a Minister, he was in fact a civil servant,
Now Bill Kidd, SNP MSP for Glasgow, has called on the professor to answer questions about his past.
Sevic, 42, joined Glasgow Caledonian after 10 years at the University of Greenwich.
However, an investigation into Sevic’s background has established that the professor held a post in the Serbian administration during a notorious period in the history of the Balkans.
Between 1991 and 1993, at the age of just 23, Sevic was the civil service head of the Serbian government’s youth department, with a title of deputy minister for youth and sports.
At that point, Milosevic was president of Serbia, while his Socialist Party held a majority of seats in the National Assembly. It was also during this period that Milosevic’s regime encouraged Serbian nationalism and carried out some of its worst atrocities.
From 1991, Croatia and Bosnia declared their independence following the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia. The Milosevic regime then embarked on a series of wars with its neighbours as a way of carving out a ‘greater Serbia’ from the former communist state.
The Croatian War of Independence, which began in 1991, is estimated to have resulted in the deaths of around 20,000 Croats.
The war in Bosnia, kickstarted in 1992, included the Srebrenica and Markale massacres and is thought to have led to around 100,000 deaths.
Milosevic was later charged by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia with crimes against humanity and alleged genocide.
Although there is no suggestion that Sevic engaged in wrongdoing, his role in government infrastructure is coming under scrutiny.
A BBC news piece from 1992 reported that students at the Novi Sad University in Serbia were critical of Sevic.
THE students demanded that the university’s “influence, authority and property” be restored, and called for an end to interference in the “affairs of student associations”. The report ended: “Zeljko Sevic, Minister for Youth, is called upon to resign.”
Bill Kidd said: “I think it would be reasonable for Professor Sevic to make a statement. We can never forget what happened in the Balkans during this period, and he should condemn the atrocities that took place.”
However, Professor Sevic said: “I was a civil servant -- head of a department and as such had the title Deputy Minister -- in the Serbian Republican administration from 1991 to 1993. I was not a member of the government and played no role in decisions taken by the government.”
After three years working in the Serbian government, Sevic quit politics for a life in academia. He left Serbia in 1995 to become an economics tutor at Dundee University, where he completed his PhD. He then became a lecturer at Greenwich.
Sevic joined Glasgow Caledonian in 2008, and is also listed as a member of a ‘military education’ committee for all universities in the city.
