ZAGREB, April 18, 2018 - The Croatian government condemns the uncivilised and unacceptable act committed by Vojislav Šešelj who desecrated the Croatian flag, disrespected Croatian symbols and insulted members of Croatia's parliamentary delegation including the second highest ranking Croatian official, Gordan Jandroković, spokeswoman for the Croatian government Sunčana Glavak told Hina on Wednesday.
A delegation of the Croatian parliament, led by Speaker Gordan Jandroković, has abruptly terminated its official visit to Serbia following an incident caused by Serbian Radical Party leader and MP Vojislav Šešelj.
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković spoke to Jandroković and the two condemned in the strongest terms the unacceptable and uncivilised act by Vojislav Šešelj and disrespect of Croatian national symbols and decided that the entire delegation returns to Croatia, the government said.
Šešelj and another member of his party, Filip Stojanović, desecrated the Croatian flag outside the Serbian parliament, and then threw insults at the Croatian delegation as they were passing by.
"Despite the very good start to the official visit and a commitment to do the best we can for the promotion of the two countries' relations, we have terminated the visit because of this act which severely harmed the dignity of the Republic of Croatia and its parliament," according to a press release issued by the Croatian parliament announcing the termination of the visit to Serbia.
Jandroković was scheduled to attend the opening of a Croatian Chamber of Commerce office in Belgrade and tomorrow he was supposed to meet Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and Prime Minister Ana Brnabić.
Serbian Parliament Speaker Maja Gojković condemned in the strongest terms Šešelj's "brutal attempt" to threaten the dignity of the Serbian parliament and the delegation of the Croatian Parliament, the Beta news agency reported. "Disrespecting the state symbols of Croatia whose delegation, led by Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković, is on the first, historic visit to Serbia, cannot be tolerated and is also an insult to the Serbian people who have a long-standing tradition of being good hosts," Gojković said in a press release.
The incident was also condemned by Serbian Prime Minister Brnabić. "This is not the behaviour that represents Serbia," Barnabić said condemning Šešelj 's actions in the strongest terms.
The incident was also condemned by the Croatian parliamentary party MOST.
The Serb Radical Party issued a statement of its own, announcing that Šešelj cursed the Croatian delegation in the Assembly, and, along with Filip Stojanović, attempted to tear up the Croatian flag on display at the entrance to the Assembly, and then trampled on it.
The Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals on April 11 sentenced Šešelj in absentia to ten years in prison for inciting crimes with nationalist speeches in the Vojvodina region of Serbia during the war in 1992.
Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović condemned an incident caused by ultra-nationalist Serbian politician Vojislav Šešelj, describing it as "savagery of a convicted war criminal."
Grabar-Kitarović considers that the decision by Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković to return to Zagreb was the "only possible response to the savagery by a convicted war criminal, Vojislav Šešelj."
"His trampling the Croatian flag is an expression of weakness of the head of a defeated criminal policy that brought a lot of evil to the Croatian people, including Croats in Vojvodina. Croatia's independence is the greatest punishment for him and his sympathisers and it represents the total collapse of the Greater Serbia project," Grabar-Kitarović said.
She welcomed the reaction by Serbia's senior officials, hoping that the incident would not spoil progress in relations between the two countries "achieved over the past few months."
