Dejan Anastasijevic, 57, editor at BBC service in Serbian died in Belgrade the company reported late on Wednesday.

Anastasijevic was considered one of the bravest journalists in Serbia. He was a long-time reporter with the Belgrade independent Vreme weekly as well as the Time magazine, and the state Tanjug news agency correspondent from Brussels.

In 2002, he was the first journalist to testify against Slobodan Milosevic, ex Yugoslav and Serbia’s president, before the war crimes Tribunal in The Hague, after reporting on wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo.

He survived an attempt on his life when a hand grenade exploded on his window. The perpetrators had never been found.

Anastasijevic had received many rewards, including Nieman Fellowship from the Harvard University, two national recognitions by the Independent Association of Serbia’s Journalists (NUNS) and the Dutch Oxfam’s Novib/Pen award for advocating human rights and freedom of expression.