Stevan Vranesevic and Mirjana Djerkovic were sentenced by a Zagreb court on Sunday to 15 and five days in prison respectively for taking pictures of themselves while holding a photograph of convicted World War Two Chetnik leader and war criminal Draza Mihailovic in Zagreb's central square on Saturday.
Vranesevic and Djerkovic arrived in Zagreb on Saturday as part of a group of some 300 students from Belgrade to see the "Dora Maar and Picasso" exhibition.
"By arresting and sentencing the Belgrade students in Zagreb, Croatia responded undemocratically and inappropriately to a minor and unnecessary act of political protest prompted by the decision to bar (Partizan Belgrade) basketball player Milan Gurovic from entering the country," said the statement, which was carried by Belgrade electronic media and Tanjug news agency.
"We will request that the citizens of Serbia and Montenegro, Stevan Vranesevic and Mirjana Djerkovic, be immediately released," it added.
A similar statement was made by the Foreign Minister of Serbia and Montenegro, Vuk Draskovic, in an interview with the BK television network on Sunday evening.
The Foreign Ministry further said that in the interests of improving relations between Serbia and Montenegro and Croatia, it expected Croatian authorities to urgently identify and punish those responsible for burning a van of the Belgrade swimming club "Partizan". The van was set alight in the car park of the Hotel I in Zagreb on Saturday evening.