The Vukovar branch of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party said on Friday that the unveiling of a memorial plaque to a Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) general in the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad 'would not lead to normalisation of relations between the two neighbouring countries' but would only 'glorify the military aggression on Croatia and Vukovar and would be a slap in the face of each of the 2,717 people killed in the town during the 1991-1995 war.'

The memorial plaque, to be unveiled on Friday, commemorates General Mladen Bratic, the commander of the JNA Novi Sad Corps who was killed in an attack on Vukovar on 2 November 1991.

In November, which is the month of sorrow and the greatest suffering of the people of Vukovar, this act does not lead to normalisation of relations between the two neighbouring countries, but only further glorifies the aggression on Croatia and Vukovar, the Vukovar HDZ said in a statement, adding that glorifying a war criminal who dedicated his life to destruction, killing and ethnic cleansing of a town was a disgrace.

This act is Serbia’s admission that it had participated in and led the military aggression on Vukovar and Croatia carried out by the JNA, the statement said. It will affect inter-ethnic relations in Vukovar and will be a slap in the face of each of the 2,717 people of different ethnicities who were killed in the town during the Homeland War, the party said.