SUBOTICA, May 13 (Hina) - A candidate of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) for Serbia's President has rejected any responsibility of his party for the persecution of ethnic Croats in Vojvodina in the early 1990.
SUBOTICA, May 13 (Hina) - A candidate of the Socialist Party of Serbia
(SPS) for Serbia's President has rejected any responsibility of his
party for the persecution of ethnic Croats in Vojvodina in the early
1990.#L#
"Croats from the town of Hrtkovci were not expelled by the SPS. We
cannot take responsibility for mistakes made by others," Ivica Dacic
said in the northern city of Subotica which he visited on Thursday
during his presidential campaign.
"If this was done by some individuals, this has nothing to do with the
SPS. At that time Socialists wanted to deal with those (who were
persecuting Croats), and you know very well who they were," Dacic said
responding to a reporter's question whether the SPS felt accountable
for the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and
Vojvodina.
Dacic claimed that at that time his party had condemned and also today
condemned the expulsion of Croats from Vojvodina.
The SPS with Slobodan Milosevic at its helm was the ruling party in
Serbia in 1990s when the persecution took place.
The large-scale persecution of ethnic Croats and other non-Serbs in
the town of Hrtkovci and other nearby villages and towns in Vojvodina
began on 6 May 1992 after the Serb Radical Party held a rally in
Hrtkovci at which party leader Vojislav Seselj read out the names of
local Croats who should be expelled from their homes.
From the early 1990s to 2002 some 30,000 Croats fled Serbia.
(Hina) ms