Seselj in Third Contempt Case
Trial relates to confidential material he allegedly failed to remove from his website.
Seselj in Third Contempt Case
Trial relates to confidential material he allegedly failed to remove from his website.
Serbian nationalist politician Vojislav Seselj will make his initial appearance in the third contempt case against him on July 6, judges ruled this week.
The accused first faced contempt charges in 2009, and was subsequently sentenced to 15 months in prison for revealing details about protected prosecution witnesses in one of the books he authored.
He faced similar charges in a recently concluded second trial, in relation to 11 protected prosecution witnesses.
The third case – initiated at the end of May - relates to confidential material he allegedly failed to remove from his website.
“I am a very thorough and patient,” Seselj said earlier this month, during his second contempt trial. “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.
“My mission is to disassemble The Hague tribunal and I’ve been doing so successfully for eight and half years,” Seselj told the court during his second contempt trial.
Those proceedings ended abruptly after 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 to the public.
Rachel Irwin is an IWPR reporter in The Hague.
