Kosovo declares Peter Handke ‘persona non grata’

Gazeta Express

11/12/2019 19:50

Kosovo’s outgoing minister of Foreign Affairs, Behgjet Pacolli, said on Wednesday that he has declared Austrian writer. Peter Handke, as “persona non-grata,” Gazeta Express reports.  

Pacolli wrote in social media that the decision was taken after Nobel Laureate on literature Peter Handke has denied war crimes committed in Kosovo by Slobodan Milosevic’s regime during 1998-1999 war which left over 13 thousand people dead and 1600 are still considered as missing. “Denying crimes and support for criminals is the most terrible crime,” Pacolli wrote.

The Swedish Academy’s choice for the 2019 prize, which Handke received on Tuesday, offended people in Kosovo and other countries of the region who see Handke as an apologist for Serb war crimes during the conflicts that led to dissolution of former Yugoslavia.