Slobodan Penezić

Slobodan "Krcun" Penezić (Serbian Cyrillic: Слободан Пенезић Крцун; 2 July 1918 – 6 November 1964) was a Yugoslav communist politician who served as Prime Minister and Minister of Internal Affairs of the Socialist Republic of Serbia. During his heyday, he was the Secret Police chief in Serbia.

Slobodan Penezić
Penezić in 1958
Prime Minister of Serbia As President of the Executive Council of SR Serbia
In office 9 June 1962 – 6 November 1964
Preceded by	Miloš Minić
Succeeded by	Stevan Doronjski
Personal details
Born	(1918-07-02)2 July 1918 Užice, Kingdom of Serbia
Died	6 November 1964(1964-11-06) (aged 46) Šopić, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia
Political party	Communist Party of Yugoslavia
Spouse	Grozdana Belić-Penezić [sr]
Children	Sons Srđan and Relja, daughter Vida

He was also notable for leading the arrest of Draža Mihailović and for being awarded the Order of the People's Hero (on 5 July 1952).

Career

Penezić was a member of the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, a member of the League of Communists of Serbia Executive Committee and was also chairman of the Executive Council of the Serbian parliament.

Death

On 6 November 1964, Penezić and Svetolik Lazarević [sr] were killed in a car accident when their car skidded off a wet road into a tree.^[1] Penezić's death cleared the way for plans by Josip Broz Tito to limit the power of secret police chief Aleksandar Ranković at a crucial party congress.^[2]

His wife was among those who doubted the circumstances of his death, but his son considered finding out hard facts nearly impossible.^[3]