Gouillon: Removal of Serb gravestones in Croatia is pure Serbophobia

BELGRADE - The director of the Serbian government Office for Public and Cultural Diplomacy Arnaud Gouillon condemned on Sunday the passage of a new Croatian law enabling the removal of Serb gravestones raised after 1990.

In an English-language video posted on social media networks, Gouillon warned the domestic and international public of the "act of institutional discrimination," which he noted would have "serious consequences."

He said the new Croatian law targeted monuments raised after 1990 because they honoured Serb soldiers and civilian victims during the 1991-95 war, or because they were written in the Serbian Cyrillic script.

"Families must remove the monuments themselves within 30 days or face a fine of up to 5,000 euros! A state commission will decide what is 'unacceptable'. No appeal, no clear rules, pure Serbophobia," the video said.

Gouillon said this was "a sweeping effort to erase memory and shame the dead."

"These are not statues of hate, but symbols of loss and resistance. Discrimination against Serbs is happening today in an EU member state. Croatia ethnically cleansed 1/4 million Serbs in 1995 and it's now trying to hide that Serbs ever existed there. Serbia remembers our sons, our fathers, our dead," he concluded.