Tribunal Says Seselj's Condition Stable
Statement comes in response to media reports that his health had seriously deteriorated.
Tribunal Says Seselj's Condition Stable
Statement comes in response to media reports that his health had seriously deteriorated.
The Hague tribunal this week denied that Serbian nationalist politician Vojislav Seselj’s health had taken a life-threatening turn, contrary to some media reports in the region.
“According to the medical information in our possession, his condition is stable and as such, there is no indication at present that his life is in danger,” tribunal spokesperson Nerma Jelacic said in a statement on January 9.
Jelacic added that she was not at liberty to discuss the details of the defendant’s condition since he had refused to provide consent. However, on January 13, Serbian media reported that Seselj had a pacemaker implanted in an operation at a Dutch hospital.
Since his surrender to the tribunal in 2003, Seselj has insisted on representing himself and has vowed on numerous occasions to “destroy” the Hague court.
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 remains leader of the Serbian Radical Party.
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 accused’s hunger strike.
Closing arguments are slated for March 2012, since Seselj has declined to present a defence case.
The accused has also been convicted twice of contempt for revealing confidential details about protected witnesses in books that he authored. He received a 15 month prison sentence for this in 2009, and an additional 18 month sentence in October 2011.
A third contempt case – initiated at the end of May last year – relates to confidential material that he allegedly failed to remove from his website.
Rachel Irwin is an IWPR reporter in The Hague.
