"Ustasha snake doesn't sleep" - Croatia's ex-president

"Ustasha snake doesn't sleep" - Croatia's ex-president

Asked "where he saw the Ustasha snake," Ivo Josipovic told the N1 broadcaster that it was "not here on the floor, it is not slithering, it is not the one from the 1941-1945 (period)."

He went on to explain that he also did not have in mind "the posting of Ustasha symbols on Facebook and other websites, or dressing up in Ustasha uniforms" - but rather "the tendencies that lead to intolerance toward others and what is different."

"It is visible in our society that there are some tendencies that follow the essence of what was advocated then. It is intolerance toward others and what is different, totalitarian tendencies, a desire to diminish human rights, and we've also seen people being threatened to change the truth about history," Josipovic was quoted as saying.

According to him, "some influential circles" are making attempts at "historical revisionism" - i.e., "to distance Croatia from the winning Second World War coalition and turn it into the loser."

Josipovic, who in 2010 in Sarajevo apologized for "Croatia's participation in a policy that in the 1990s attempted to partition Bosnia-Herzegovina," also said that during his presidential mandate he "improved relations with Serbia."

"Just think back to my speech in Sarajevo and how conflictual or undesirable it was in the ruling circles then. I said it, others did not. Not before, not afterwards. Remember my trip to Serbia and the improving of relations with Serbia. These are serious conflicts, and then somebody says, 'he is a conformist'. Remember my speech in the Knesset. I stand behind it, look at the (web) portals, the Ustasha snake still doesn't sleep," Josipovic was quoted as saying.

In 2010 Josipovic addressed the parliament of Bosnia-Herzegovina and called on the region to cooperate, announcing he would "visit the sites where Serbs were killed in the last war," and also expressing his regret that Croatia in the 1990s contributed to the suffering and divisions that were still troubling the region.