Bosnian Croat president:Srebrenica genocide was awarded

BELGRADE, Serbia

Today Srebrenica genocide was awarded, said Bosnian Croat President Zeljko Komsic on Tuesday referring to the decision to award this year's Nobel Prize for Literature to Peter Handke, an Austrian author who denies the genocide.

Komsic stressed that the genocide was rewarded in Sweden today.

"Hate speech can be expected from someone who denies the genocide, but hatred from the award-giving side is extremely destructive," said Komsic.

He added that they will continue to fight for justice.

"It is an act of hatred against the relatives of the victims," said Komsic.

Handke, 77, openly supports Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic, who died in 2006 at the international tribunal in The Hague on trial for war crimes and genocide.

He claimed that the Muslim Bosniaks in Sarajevo had killed themselves, adding that he never believed that the Serbs had committed genocide in Srebrenica.

Several countries including Turkey boycotted the award ceremony.

Turkish, Albanian, Kosovar and Croatian envoys to Sweden did not attend the ceremony.