Croatian President Stjepan Mesic said on Friday that Serbian President Boris Tadic should attend the inauguration of newly-elected Croatian President Ivo Josipovic like all the other leaders from the region.
Tadic has stated that he will not attend if Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiuis invited.
"I think he should come, because he has been invited by CroatianPresident-elect Ivo Josipovic, and I think he belongs here among leaders ofother countries, especially those from this region," Mesic told reportersat a New Year's reception for the diplomatic corps.
"I don't know why he gave up. If it's about Kosovo, we recognisedKosovo because it was a constituent element of the Yugoslav federation, whichdoesn't exist any more," Mesic said, adding that Croatia had recognisedthe new reality after failed negotiations on Kosovo's status between Belgradeand Pristina.
"It would have been hypocritical of us to recognise Kosovo and notinvite its president to the inauguration," he said.
Tadic has also objected to the decision by Mesic to reduce by one year theeight-year prison sentence for Sinisa Rimac, a former police reservistconvicted for the murder of Serbs in late 1991 in the so-called PakrackaPoljana case.
"Boris Tadic had no objections when I pardoned seven Serbs convicted ofwar crimes. He raised no objections to his friend, (Bosnian Serb Prime Minister)Milorad Dodik, when he received with full honours convicted war criminalBiljana Plavsic, who is responsible for thousands of deaths. She was receivedin Belgrade like a Joan of Ark," Mesic said.
