Croatian delegation leaves Belgrade after "Seselj's rampage"

Croatian delegation leaves Belgrade after "Seselj's rampage"

It said that the visit ended after an incident caused by the leader of the (opposition) Serb Radical Party (SRS) and people's deputy in the Serbian National Assembly, Vojislav Seselj.

The statement also said that "the Croatian flag was desecrated" during the incident.

"Despite the very good start of the official visit, and commitment to do the best to improve relations between the two countries, we have ended the visit due to this act that crudely harmed the dignity of the Republic of Croatia and the Croatian Assembly," the statement said.

Earlier on Wednesday, the SRS issued a statement of its own, announcing that Seselj cursed the Croatian delegation in the Assembly, and, along with Filip Stojanovic, attempted to tear up the Croatian flag on display at the entrance to the Assembly, and then trampled on it.

"Five security guards were unable to seize the flag from them," the SRS said.

Soon after, President of the Serbian Assembly Maja Gojkovic - who earlier in the day met with Jandrokovic - reacted by condemning in the strongest terms the SRS leader's "brutal attempt to jeopardize the dignity of the Assembly and of the Croatian delegation."

All this comes after last week's conviction on appeal of Seselj by the the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT) to ten years in prison on charges of crimes humanity committed against ethnic Croats in the village of Hrtkovci in the 1990s.

This put the spotlight on Seselj frequently over recent days, especially after Aleksandara Jerkov, a people's deputy from the opposition DS party, referred to Seselj as a war criminal and asked in the Assembly whether he would be stripped of his mandate due to the ruling.

She also remarked that Seselj had said he would "break the nose" of anyone who called him a war criminal, noting that the DS had done that, and inviting him to "start with her" if he proceeds to "break noses."

Jerkov then posted a photo of on Twitter showing a handwritten message reading, "Ustasha whore" left for her in the Assembly hall, after she had been "surrounded by hordes of Radicals."

The term "Ustasha" is used as an insult in Serbia, and refers to the WW2-era Ustasha regime of the Nazi-allied Independent State of Croatia (NDH).

After this, Seselj said that the Radicals would not be physically assaulting Jerkov - but would be "calling her names for as long as she lives."