Serbia gives award to 2019 Nobel Literature winner Handke

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia has honored 2019 Nobel Literature Prize winner Peter Handke, who is known for his apologist views over Serbia’s nationalist policies and war crimes during the 1990s’ wars in the Balkans. The Austrian novelist and screenwriter received a state decoration from Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic, a former ultranationalist who now says he wants Serbia to join the European Union. On Friday, Handke also received honors from Bosnian Serbs. Handke was awarded for “special contribution in representing Serbia and its citizens in the area of public and cultural activities and for personal persistence in uncompromising responsibility toward the truth.”