[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6117]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  EXPRESSING REGRET FOR ASSASSINATION OF SERBIAN PRIME MINISTER ZORAN 
                                DJINDJIC

  (Mr. DREIER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DREIER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to express my deep regret at 
the tragic assassination yesterday of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran 
Djindjic. Prime Minister Djindjic worked closely with my friend, Jim 
Denton, and my chief of staff, Brad Smith, in pursuing democratization 
in Serbia. In a country that has seen more than its share of autocratic 
governments, the Prime Minister promoted democratic ideals throughout 
his political career. He was one of the founding members of the 
Centrist Democratic Party in 1989, one of the leading anti-Milosevic 
parties. He was also instrumental in fostering the mass protest that 
ultimately ended Slobodan Milosevic's rule in 2000.
  Since that time, he served as the Prime Minister of Serbia, promoting 
economic development and democratization within the former Yugoslavia. 
Prime Minister Djindjic was instrumental in delivering Slobodan 
Milosevic to face the war crimes charges before The Hague Tribunal.
  It may be well that Mr. Djindjic's unabashed support for governance 
and his efforts to end corruption led to his tragic death. As we here 
in the United States continue to take advantage of our freedom and 
representative government, we must remember that there are fragile 
democracies all around the world.
  Our Nation learned long ago that liberty does not come without a 
price. As other nations learn that same unfortunate lesson, the United 
States must continue to promote international democratization so the 
sacrifices of Prime Minister Djindjic and other revolutionaries will 
not have been in vain.

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