Croatian government expects Serbia condemn the incident involving Serbian ultra-nationalist leader Vojislav Seselj in the Serbian Parliament, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Thursday in a government session.

On Wednesday, leader of the ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party (SRS) and member of Serbian Parliament Vojislav Seselj had desecrated the Croatian national flag that had been hoisted in front of the Parliament in Belgrade, and hurled insults at members of the Croatian Parliament delegation that had been in Belgrade on an official visit to Serbia.

“I expect Serbia to issue a sharp and unambiguous condemnation of the actions of an MP who once again repeated his harsh and unscrupulous rhetoric and behaviour towards Croatia,” Plenkovic said.

Seselj is a Serbian ultra-nationalist who was recently sentenced to 10 years in prison for war crimes against Croats in northern Serbia during the 1990s war. Although convicted, Seselj had already spent more than 11 years in the custody of The Hague Tribunal between 2003 and 2014, before being released for health reasons.

Following the incident, the Croatian delegation immediately returned to Zagreb on Wednesday afternoon, cutting short what was meant to be a two-day cordial visit.

“I condemn Seselj’s incident in the strongest of terms. He desecrated the Croatian flag and insulted the Croatian delegation,” Plenkovic added.

On Wednesday afternoon, Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic had condemned the incident “in the strongest of terms”, while Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said he regretted the Croatian delegation’s decision to return to Zagreb.