Jadranka Kosor

Croatian President Ivo Joipovic has axed one of his chief advisers for slating the country's 1991 independence referendum as illiberal and undemocratic.

Professor Dejan Jovic expressed his highly controversial thoughts on the referendum on independence from Yugoslavia earlier this week in an academic journal, "Political Thought".

Hearings at the Hague-based court for the resolution of international disputes began on Monday with Croatia presenting its case, as Zagreb and Ljubljana attempted to settle a dispute that has continued since they both became independent from the former Yugoslavia.