Драгутин Димитријевић: «Қара қол» жетекшісінің тағдыры

Serbian army officer and conspirator

Dragutin Dimitrijević (; 17 August 1876 – 24 June 1917), better known by his nickname Apis, was a Serbian army officer and chief of the military intelligence section of the general staff in 1913. He is best known as the most prominent member of the Black Hand, a secret military society that organised the 1903 overthrow of the Serbian government and assassination of King Alexander I of Serbia and Queen Draga. Some scholars believe that he also initiated the plot to kill the Archduke Franz Ferdinand in June 1914, which led to the July Crisis and the outbreak of World War I. In 1916, the government in exile of Serbian Prime Minister Nikola Pašić, who considered Dimitrijević a threat, filed charges of high treason against the leadership of Unification or Death. Dimitrijević was tried at Salonika before a court martial arraigned by his opponents within the Serbian government. He was found guilty of conspiring to assassinate Prince Regent Alexander Karadjordjević and executed by firing squad, along with two other members, on 26 June 1917.

Dragutin Dimitrijević was born in Belgrade, Principality of Serbia, on 19 August 1876 to an Aromanian family. His father and two brothers were often away working as tinsmiths and he grew up with his two older sisters in Niš. At the age of nine, his father died. After Dimitrijević's oldest sister married, the family moved back to Belgrade where, at the age of 16, Dimitrijević attended the Lyceum of the Principality of Serbia followed the Belgrade Military Academy as a cadet in 1892. Because of his strong physique and energy, his fellow cadets called him "Apis", a reference to the Egyptian bull god by that name. Dimitrijević finished the academy's lower school as sixth in his class in 1896. Two years later, he enrolled in the higher school. A brilliant student, upon graduation, he was assigned to the General staff of the Serbian Army, an indication that his superiors held him in high regard.

In 1901, Dimitrijević participated in the organisation of the first failed attempt to murder the unpopular and pro Austrian King Alexander. On 11 June 1903 the plotters succeeded when Dimitrijević and a group of junior officers stormed the royal palace and killed King Alexander, his wife, Queen Draga and three others. During the attack, Dimitrijević was shot three times, and the bullets were never removed from his body. shortly before his arrest on charge of high treason.

Pašić decided to get rid of the most prominent members of the Black Hand, which had officially disbanded. Dimitrijević and several of his military colleagues were arrested in December 1916 and tried on charges blaming them with attempted assassination of Regent Alexander I of Yugoslavia in September 1916. On 23 May 1917, following the Salonika Trial, Dimitrijević was found guilty of treason and sentenced to death. A month later, on 24 June 1917, he was executed by firing squad. In 1953, Dimitrijević and his codefendants were all posthumously retried by the Supreme Court of Serbia and found not guilty because there was no proof of their alleged participation in the assassination plot.