Seselj Contempt Trial Chaos

Rachel Irwin

Senior Reporter

Friday, 10 June, 2011

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The second contempt trial for Serbian nationalist politician Vojislav Seselj ended abruptly at the Hague tribunal this week when one defence witness refused to testify with protective measures and the accused would not call the rest of his witnesses unless their identities were revealed publicly.

When the judges informed Seselj that they could not rescind the protective measures and that he would have to submit this request to the judges hearing his criminal trial, the accused said this was a “brutal violation” of his rights.

“I am a very thorough and patient,” Seselj said. “Once one [contempt trial] is completed, I will prepare myself for the next one, and the next one…your problem is how you are going to get away from that.”

Detained at the tribunal since 2003, Seselj is charged with nine counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity – including murder, torture and forcible transfer – for atrocities carried out in an effort to expel the non-Serb population from parts of Croatia and Bosnia between August 1991 and September 1993. He represents himself in court and remains leader of the Serbian Radical Party, SRS, based in Belgrade.

Seselj’s criminal trial has endured repeated delays since it officially began in November 2007, a full year after the original trial date was postponed due to the defendant’s hunger strike. The defence phase of the case has yet to begin.

The accused first faced contempt charges in 2009, and was subsequently found guilty and sentenced to 15 months in prison for revealing details about protected prosecution witnesses in one of the books he authored.

He faces similar charges in this second trial, in relation to 11 protected prosecution witnesses.

Last month, a third set of contempt charges were brought against Seselj in relation to confidential material he failed to remove from his website. A start date for that trial has yet to be announced.

“My mission is to disassemble The Hague tribunal and I’ve been doing so successfully for eight and half years,” Seselj told the court.

The few witnesses who did testify on Seselj’s behalf this week appeared to be the same protected witnesses that spurred the charges in the first place, though some had already had the protective measures rescinded and could testify using their real names.

All of them said that they revealed their identities to the public themselves or gave Seselj permission to use their names in his publications. One even stated that it was an “honour” to be mentioned in one of Seselj’s books.

The witnesses also spoke of being coerced by the Office of the Prosecutor, OTP, to provide false testimony, but judges deemed this topic irrelevant to the current contempt charges.

These claims, however, are currently being investigated by an independent so-called friend of the court or amicus curiae, but it is unclear when the results will be released. The OTP has denied the allegations.

While the first defence witness testified despite the protected measures, the second witness wanted his identity to be revealed before he would give evidence.

“This witness has decided to testify without protective measures and you don’t have the right to impose such measures on him,” Seselj told the judges.

The amicus curiae assigned to the case, Bruce MacFarlane, pointed out that this was a “fundamental misunderstanding of who controls the process”.

Only an order from the originating bench can lift the protective measures, and this is to ensure that witnesses are not intimidated into revealing their identities, MacFarlane said.

Seselj insisted that the witnesses could decide for themselves, and told judges they could not act as if the witnesses were “mere objects in this courtroom”.

“If you are trying to get this witness to agree [to testify with protective measures], then go ahead and try to do that,” Seselj said. “I am not going to start my examination before the witness gives up himself.”

“If you don’t accept the rules of this tribunal, then I don’t think there is a point of keeping this witness anymore,” Presiding Judge O-Gon Kwon remarked.

The witness ultimately refused to testify.

When the next protected witness took the stand, Seselj announced that he would not question him unless the measures were removed.

“I am not going to examine any defence witness under protective measures,” he reiterated. “I am going to call all of them to testify in public…Only people who have no clear conscience insist on private testimony.”

Judge Kwon then thanked the witness for coming all the way to The Hague and said that due to “unfortunate developments”, he was free to go.

Seselj then confirmed that he did not intend to question any of the remaining witnesses if the protective measures remained in place.

“You unlawfully prevented me from examining these witnesses,” Seselj told the judges.

During closing arguments, MacFarlane repeated that the process of giving and rescinding protective measures is controlled by the judges in order to avoid witness intimidation.

He said that Seselj knew that protective measures were in place for these witnesses, that the chamber controlled the process, and still proceeded to reveal their identities and personal details in his book.

MacFarlane’s associate pointed out that Seselj also provided his book as a PDF file on his website free of charge, allowing readers to search for terms and find information in a “matter of seconds”.

They requested that Seselj be sentenced to three years in prison.

In his own closing arguments, Seselj said that his son, Nikola Seselj, is the “chief editor” of his website, and that despite outside efforts to have it shutdown in various countries, they had found another provider in California.

“The tribunal cannot do anything against California,” he said.

“I am proud of son Nikola Seselj and his collaborators,” Seselj continued.

“No one can shut us down.”

Rachel Irwin is an IWPR reporter in The Hague.