BELGRADE, Serbia, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- Serbia has launched an international lawsuit seeking to ban a Croatian state holiday commemorating the expulsion of Serbs in 1995.
On June 30, 2006, the Croatian parliament in Zagreb declared Aug. 5 as "Oluja" day, marking the victory over Serbs in the eastern occupied region of Krajina.
However, Serbia considers it a case of ethnic cleansing and claims some 220,000 Serbs were forced from their properties and some 2,000 were massacred, the Belgrade daily Blic reported Wednesday.
Belgrade filed a lawsuit with the International Court of Justice in The Hague, seeking to overturn Croatia's celebration and seeking restitution, said Sasa Obradovic, chief of the Serbian legal team said.
"Consequently we request court trial against those who planned and committed it, compensation of damage, safe return of the expelled and their safe life there," Obradovic said.
The report quoted unidentified Croatian parliamentarians as describing the lawsuit as nonsense that should be ignored.
