The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia has addressed today two Notes of Protest to the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia. Chargé d'Affaires of the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia Stjepan Glas refused to accept the Notes submitted by the Foreign Ministry through the proper channels, whereby they were formally handed.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia expressed strong protest against the ruling handed down by the Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, quashing the first-instance verdict finding Branimir Glavas and others guilty of the criminal act of war crime against the civilian population, specifically against the Serbian civilians in Osijek, and following the referral of the case for a re-trial by the first-instance court.

The Ministry deems the Supreme Court ruling inexplicable, both from the legal and from the moral point of view, and finds it directly aimed against the Serbian people. The consequences of the ruling additionally aggravate and complicate the situation facing the Serbian people in the Republic of Croatia. Moreover, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia believes that the overturning of the verdict against Branimir Glavas indicates a clear policy pursued by Croatia of not only rehabilitating the fascist Independent State of Croatia (NDH), but also the criminals from the most recent war. Such a conduct of the Croatian judiciary signals that it is both permissible and normal to commit crimes against Serbs with impunity, thus declaring, in addition to incessant hate speech, an open season on the Serbs in Croatia.

Such policy pursued by Croatia has also resulted in an increased number of ethnically motivated incidents targeting the members of the Serbian people.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia expects the judicial authorities of the Republic of Croatia to rule at a retrial on the basis of legal regulations of the Republic of Croatia, and the evidence on which Branimir Glavas was convicted in the first instance, acknowledging the fact that the consequences of this and similar rulings might seriously undermine the bilateral relations with the Republic of Serbia, and additionally worsen the situation of the Serbs in Croatia.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia has also expressed a strong protest at the unveiling of a monument to Miro Barisic in Drage. The Ministry believes that the erection of a monument in honour of a terrorist, convicted of a perfidious murder of the Yugoslav Ambassador in Sweden, Vladimir Rolovic, represents an improper, civilization-defying act, unprecedented in modern-day Europe.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia expects the Government of the Republic of Croatia to distance itself unequivocally from the lionization of the convicted terrorist and Ambassador Rolovic's murderer, thereby clearly signalling that it does not support terrorism, which is re-occurring at the present time, taking the toll of innocent victims.

Moreover, the Republic of Serbia expects this disgraceful monument to be removed.