The Nobel laureate in literature for 2019, Peter Handke, has received widespread retroactive criticism for his position on the Serbian side during the Yugoslav war in the 1990s since it was known that he was awarded the Nobel Prize. Among other things, he expressed his support for Serbian politician Slobodan Milošević. Handke also spoke at Milošević's funeral in 2006.

In Dagens Nyheter, the Academy's permanent secretary Mats Malm and member Eric M Runesson now write about the criticism directed at both the Academy and the author himself. They start their text:

“The Swedish Academy obviously does not intend to reward a war criminal and denier of war crimes or genocide. You get that impression in the press now, but how did that image come about? "

Academy: Distancing is clear

Furthermore, Mats Malm and Eric M Runesson write that Handke in the book Winterliche Reise from 1996 is clear that he does not question or relativize the massacre in Srebrenica.

"Handke has been criticized for not wanting to use the concepts of genocide and concentration camp - in a very unfortunate suspicion of the language of the press and the legal, it seems - but his distancing from the phenomena is clear."

In conclusion, Mats Malm and Eric M Runesson emphasize that Peter Handke "has definitely made provocative, inappropriate and unclear statements in political matters" - but, they write, the Academy does not see any of what he wrote as an attack on neither the respect for all people's equal value nor civil society.

Slobodan Milošević was prosecuted for genocide in 66 cases in the War Criminal Tribunal in 2001, but died in custody a few months before the sentence against him would fall.

The text is updated.