Violence won't silence fascism's critics, beaten professor says

Violence won't silence fascism's critics, beaten professor says

Residents of the divided city of Mostar say such attacks do not help the long process of reconciliation between Croats and Bosniaks.

An outspoken critic of the hero's welcome given to freed war criminal Dario Kordic promised that he will not stop speaking out against fascism and corruption, even after being beaten and hospitalised.

"They can beat me or even kill me, but they cannot kill the spirit in a man who opposes everything that is fascist," Mostar University professor Slavo Kukic told SETimes. "They did not manage to intimidate me. I will continue to warn of fascism in this country, the crime and corruption, all those bad occurrences that plague the citizens of this country. Fascists and those who support them will eventually be defeated. It is only important that we, as citizens, as a nation not back up, we must not be afraid, we must not stop the criticism."

Authorities said that Kukic was assaulted after the return of Kordic, who was freed after serving 17 years of his 25-year war-crimes sentence for ordering an attack on the village of Ahmici in 1993, during which 116 Bosniak civilians, including children, women and the elderly, were murdered.

Kordic was greeted by a public celebration in his hometown of Busovaca, which was attended by representatives of the Croatian Democratic Union, the party that governs the Mostar area. He also received a welcome from supporters at Zagreb airport, and a Croatian Catholic bishop led a service of thanksgiving for his return.

Kukic, an ethnic Croat, said that his assailant entered his office at the economics faculty in Mostar and asked if he was Slavo Kukic. When he said yes, the man started hitting...