Protest in Sarajevo over Nobel Prize for Literature: "It's as if you gave it to Milosevic"

Representatives of "the Association of Victims and Witnesses of Genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina" have organized a peaceful gathering outside the embassy of Sweden in downtown Sarajevo over the decision to award the Nobel Prize for Literature to Austrian writer Peter Handke.

Protesters believe giving the award to Handke is the same as awarding former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, whom the author supported.

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The Srebrenica Mothers' Association members held photographs of Handke showing him visiting Srebrenica in the summer of 1996, the Sarajevo-based Klix website reported.

The president of the association, Munira Subasic, handed a letter to the embassy addressed to Sweden's king and queen warning them that the award was given "to someone who supported a crime."

"The award might have been given to Karadzic and Mladic and to all those who committed crimes against Muslims," said Subasic.

They urged everyone, especially the Swedish Academy, to withdraw the award and set a precedent.

"Respect Nobel who set up the foundation for different inventions. I hope our appeal will be successful. He supported criminals and does not deserve it," said one of the protesters.

A symbolic protest was organized on the day the prize is presented.

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(Telegraf.rs/Tanjug)