Croatian president to snub Serbia over Srebrenica denial

THE PRESIDENT of Croatia Ivo Josipovic will not attend the inauguration of his new Serbian counterpart due to comments that have drawn condemnation from the European Union and United States.

Since narrowly winning a presidential run-off last month, some of Tomislav Nikolic’s remarks have raised fears that the former ultra-nationalist who now portrays himself as a pro-EU conservative may not have abandoned the views of his past.

He told Montenegrin television that in massacring some 8,000 Bosnia Muslims at Srebrenica in 1995, ethnic Serb forces committed “grave war crimes” but that there “was no genocide”.

“Genocide in Srebrenica is not a subjective determination,” said US state department spokesman Mark Toner. “It is a defined criminal act which the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia has confirmed in final and binding verdicts in multiple cases . . . It cannot be denied.”

Maja Kocijancic, a spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, said the bloc “strongly rejects any intention to rewrite history . . . The massacre in Srebrenica was genocide.”

Mr Josipovic also expressed dismay over Mr Nikolic’s remark to a German newspaper that Vukovar – a town in Croatia that was razed during a brutal Serb siege in 1991 – was “a Serb town” to which Croats “did not have to return”.

“Unfortunately, the views he held before, and which he repeated in his first comments . . . are far from reflecting European values,” Mr Josipovic said in explaining why he would not attend Monday’s inauguration.

Mr Nikolic once said he would prefer Serbia to become a province of Russia than a member of the EU, but he now insists he supports accession.

He said upon taking power that he would reject EU membership if it meant having to recognise Kosovo’s independence.