Serbian Anticorruption Activist Barac Dies

Verica Barac had headed Serbia's Anticorruption Council since 2003.

BELGRADE -- Verica Barac, Serbia's most prominent anticorruption activist, has died at the age of 57.

Serbian media reported that Barac, who headed the government's Anticorruption Council, died on March 19 in Belgrade after battling cancer for years.

Barac was appointed head of the council in 2003, as a new pro-Western government began to recover from years of wars and sanctions suffered during Slobodan Milosevic's regime.

Barac exposed numerous corruption scandals, including murky privatization deals during the country's transition to a market economy.

She also received numerous awards and honors for her work.

In an interview with Serbia's independent B92 TV in December 2011, she warned that a major problem in Serbia's efforts to fight corruption was the collusion between politics and business tycoons.

With reporting by AP