Vojvodina Deputy Speaker: I Stand by My Claim that All Croats Are Ustashas

Nemanja Zavisic (Photo: Printscreen)

Nemanja Zavisic, Vojvodina Assembly’s deputy speaker and a member of the presidency of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party, said on March 18 that he “has zero regrets” about his remark that “while all Ustashas may not be Croatian, all Croats are Ustashas” and asserted he stands by the public statement labelling all Croats fascist.

Asked about the criminal complaint filed by the Freedom and Justice Party which claims his statement incites national, racial and religious hatred and intolerance, Zavisic told the Radio-Television of Vojvodina that he is glad the complaint was filed by said oppositional party and then supported by the League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina because he sees it as “confirmation” he is on “the right political side.”

“Whether or not the law was violated, whether I committed a crime, will be decided by the court. I trust this country’s institutions and will accept any decision the court makes,” Zavisic said.

The politician denied assertions that his remark was de facto a call to violence and stressed he does not support any kind of violence, “even against Croats.”

“I publicly refuse responsibility for any possible ensuing violence, but am certain that will not come to pass because we Serbs were never a villainous people. Serbs never committed atrocities. We have always led defensive wars, battles for liberation. We liberated those same Croats in the First and Second World War, formed joint countries [with them],” Zavisic stated.