Serbian Trade and Services Minister Slobodan Milosavljevic announced that the government has officially begun litigation procedures for the countersuit stemming from the genocide in Croatia from 1991-95, B92, Beta, Tanjug said Friday.

Milosavljevic said the Foreign Ministry would handle the suit, which blames Croatia for the genocide, before the International Court of Justice.

News of the Serbian litigation comes in the wake of the international court's official ruling that it has jurisdiction over a similar suit filed by Croatia in 1999.

The Croatian suit alleges Serbia was the country responsible for the ethnic Serb genocide, B92, Beta, Tanjug said.

The suit filed by Croatia accuses Serbia of Convention for Genocide violations and requests all perpetrators in the historic actions be sanctioned for their involvement, along with paying war reparations and returning any stolen cultural property.