THE HAGUE, Netherlands – Serbia says Kosovo's declaration of independence was unlawful and amounts to a challenge to the international legal order.
Dusan Batakovic, Serbia's amabassador to France, made the comments Tuesday at International Court of Justice hearings into the legality of Kosovo's February 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia.
Batakovic calls Kosovo the "historical cradle of Serbia."
Belgrade wants the world court to give an opinion on the independence declaration's legality. Such opinions are not legally binding.
Kosovo is expected to argue later Tuesday it was never part of Serbia.
NATO bombed Serbia for 78 days in 1999 in a bid to end a brutal crackdown by the forces of then-President Slobodan Milosevic against separatist Kosovo Albanians.