Ban sought against Serbian ultranationalists

04/07/2006

Serbian Radical Party MP Zoran Krasic's insults towards a cabinet member last month have resulted in calls for the party's demise.

By Davor Konjikusic for Southeast European Times from Zagreb - 04/07/06

"When something like this happens, public apology would be more than necessary, as a sign of willingness to end once for all any form of ethnic discrimination,” Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said, reacting to the incident. [Getty Images]

Prosecutors at Belgrade's District Court are to decide whether to launch legal proceedings against the ultranationalist Serbian Radical Party (SRS) for hate speech and ethnic slurs, following a verbal attack in parliament last month on a member of the cabinet. On 28 June, the pro-Western G17 party submitted a petition calling for the party to be banned.

"We believe that in the last 16 years, officials and leaders of the SRS have used hate talk and have shown national, religious and racial intolerance more readily than they showed democratic principles in their work," Radio B92 quoted a G17 legal expert, Aleksander Nikolic, as saying. More than 70,000 people have signed the petition, he added.

The latest incident occurred during a parliamentary discussion on legislation regulating the salaries of civil servants. Radical MP Zoran Krasic embarked on a tirade against then Agriculure Minister Ivana Dulic-Markovic -- who has since become deputy prime minister -- attacking her Croatian ethnic background and calling her a member of the Ustashe.

An evidently shaken Dulic-Markovic said she and her family were proud to be Serbian citizens. "I would just like to say that this is hate and chaos speech, which says more about those who use it than about my family. My family is respectable and we are very proud to be citizens of Serbia and Vojvodina," she said.

The verbal assault will spur her to fight even more vigorously for a European Serbia and for reforms, the minister added.

By law, Krasic and his party can be sued for inciting ethnic, racial and religious hatred, disorder and intolerance. Sentences for such actions range from six months to five years in jail, and some are calling for Krasic to be stripped of his parliamentary immunity.

The SRS, which has refused to distance itself from the comments or to issue an apology, could be banned on constitutional grounds, say experts. The constitution lists inciting ethnic, racial and religious intolerance as one of the grounds for prohibiting the activities of a political party or organisation.

Reacting to the attack on a member of his government, Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said insults and humiliations directed at individuals are profoundly alien to Serbian tradition.

"When something like this happens, a public apology would be more than necessary, as a sign of willingness to end once for all any form of ethnic discrimination," he said.

On 20 June, parliament elected Dulic-Markovic as deputy prime minister. The first woman to hold the post, she succeeds former G17 head Miroljub Labus.

Once allies of the Milosevic regime, the SRS has sought to capitalise on economic woes in Serbia, as well as resentment over The Hague tribunal and the Kosovo issue. Founder Vojislav Seselj is in detention at The Hague, where he faces war crimes charges.

The party currently holds 80 seats in parliament, making it the single largest bloc, and polls show it has gained support in recent months.