He was an executive of the largest company in Bosnia, Energoinvest, which made parts for Russian nuclear reactors. Krajisnik became speaker of the Bosnian parliament in 1990, before Serbs walked out and the war began. After the war ended in 1995, he served as the Serb representative on the three-member Bosnian presidency, along with a Croat and a Muslim. During his election campaign, he and other senior leaders of the Serb Democratic Party advocated Serb secession from Bosnia. Election officials made them apologize publicly on the eve of the vote.
Aides describe the widower and father of three as conservative and pious.
He considers separation based on ethnicity and religion to be natural. Like other leaders in the Bosnian conflict, he was rumored to have enriched himself through illegal dealings during and after the war. The arrest, coming ahead of next weekend's Bosnian municipal elections, heightened concerns that the voting could be marred by violence. It also might boost radical nationalist Serbs opposed to reconciliation in Bosnia. 2000, The Associated Press.