neweurope.eu <https://www.neweurope.eu/article/serbia-accuses-croatia-fascism-justificati on/>
Serbia accuses Croatia of fascism justification By Violetta Rusheva Violetta Rusheva is a journalist at New Europe. EPA/KOCA SULEJMANOVIC Scene Published 22:04 July 28, 2016 Updated 22:04 July 28, 2016 _____ The latest deterioration of the Serbian-Croatian relationship is provoked by the recent court decision in Zagreb, which at the end of the last week overturned a 70- years old conviction to a Croatian cardinal Alojzije Stepinac. In 1946, the court of the socialist republic of Yugoslavia sentenced Stepinac to 16 years in prison for the cooperation with the fascist regime established during the occupation of Croatia. The overturn of the decision concerning one of the most controversial figure in the history of XX century - Alojzije Stepinac, a former archbishop of Zagreb in 1937-1960, provoked indignation in Belgrade. The Prime-Minister of Serbia Alexander Vucic called Stepinac "one of the key ideologist of the worst fascist power in Europe", while the President Tomislav Nikolic warned, that "Croatia is trying to cover up the holes, in which Ustase (a far-right ultranationalist political party in the Independent State of Croatia) buried the Serbs". Although at the beginning Belgrade tried to refrain from criticising harshly the court decision, Zagreb responded immediately, and sent to its neighbours the note of protest in response to the Serbian politician comments. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Croatia accused Serbia of "intolerance, rejection of the European values and interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state". On Tuesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia called the Croatian ambassador and handed him over its note of protest, in which the repeal of the sentence is regarded as "the rehabilitation of fascism". The Ministry also reminded about " the recent escalation of the anti-Serbian moods in Croatia and support of the Ustase salutations, which remain unpunished". At the beginning of July 2016, the Serbian Orthodox Church sent a letter to Vatican regarding the plans to canonise Stepinac. The Serbian President also sent a letter to Pope Francis, where Nikolic calls "not to make a gesture, which can offend someone, all the more it concerns the history, the World War II, and the Stepinac's contribution to them". However, both letters can only add fuel to the fire because Croats and Catholics consider Stepinac as a martyr, who suffered from the Communist regime. In 1998, he was recognised as a saint and is expected to be canonised in October 2016. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "serbia" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/serbia. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
