BBC Monitoring Europe - Political

Supplied by BBC Worldwide Monitoring

July 2, 2007 Monday

Serbian Radicals launch leader Seselj's new book

Text of report by Serbian news agency Beta

Belgrade, 30 June: The Serbian Radical Party (SRS) launched in Belgrade today a new book by party Chairman Vojislav Seselj about the role played by the Vatican in the creation of the Croatian nation.

Local and foreign historians, legal experts, and academicians spoke about the book, titled Rimokatolicki Zlocinacki Projekat Vestacke Hrvatske Nacije [Roman Catholic Criminal Project for the Creation of the Artificial Croatian Nation]; the gathering was attended by the SRS chairman's wife Jadranka Seselj, war crimes indictee Radovan Karadzic's brother Luka, and SRS deputies in the national parliament.

Legal expert Milan Bulajic stressed at the Sava Centre gathering that, in his new book, Seselj has proved that the Vatican, with the help of the United States and Germany, had played the decisive role in the smashing of the Yugoslav state in 1991 and 1992.

Professor Mirko Zurovac said that Vojislav Seselj has written the book in a careful and balanced way, presenting arguments and making no ideological accusations. He stressed that this is a document that could be of service to all historians, including those in Croatia, that are working to establish the truth.

"Roman Catholicism is a political religion and an organization that has political goals and wants to restore the might of the Roman Empire. On this path, they do not care what weapons they use and destroy everything and everybody that stands in their way," Zurovac said.

The gathering was addressed also by US attorney Jonathan Levy, who filed a lawsuit against the Vatican Bank in 1999 for the restitution of wealth plundered by Ustashas during World War II from Serbs, Roma, and Jews, and from victims of the Jasenovac death camp.

Source: Beta news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 1038 gmt 30 Jun 07