ANUBiH: Handke's Nobel Prize is a shadow on the Swedish Academy's reputation

REUTERS/Christian Hartmann

In a letter addressed to the Nobel Committee, Bosnia’s Academy of Sciences and Arts (ANUBiH) criticised the decision to award controversial Austrian writer Peter Handke with the Nobel Prize in literature in 2019, saying the decision represents “a shadow on the reputation” of the Swedish Academy.

The full letter can be read below:

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“The Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina is expressing its deepest moral indignation and dissatisfaction with the Swedish Academy’s decision to award the prestigious Nobel Prize in Literature to Mr. Peter Handke.

During the most violent aggression on internationally recognized, independent and sovereign Bosnia and Herzegovina and its people, Mr. Handke visited our country. Despite his personal insight into the true situation and internationally stated facts about the character of the war, Mr. Handke nonetheless blamed the victims, not the aggressor forces, for war and war crimes.

For this reason, the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina considers the selection of the laureate for the 2019 Nobel Prize for Literature a shadow on the reputation of the otherwise highly respected Swedish Academy.”