Serbian nationalist hardliner Vojislav Seselj, whose verdict is due on Wednesday, has repeatedly shown off his disdain for the UN war crimes tribunal and has been convicted of contempt of court three times.
“Mr. Seselj, will you please stand up?” a Hague judge asked the leader of the Serbian Radical Party, Vojislav Seselj, at one point during his long-running trial.
“Stand up for you? You’re not normal,” Seselj responded. “You are the scum of the earth. How can I stand up for you? I am a Chetnik duke.”
This scene from the courtroom at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in 2012 is only one of many examples of how Seselj demonstrated his disdain and contempt for the UN court during his 11-year trial.
Following his extradition from Serbia to the Tribunal in 2003 to face accusations of war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Croatia, his strategy has been to belittle both the court and the proceedings.
He described it as “a NATO court”, called it “anti-Serb”, boycotted it with a hunger strike, cursed in the courtroom, and said he would “destroy” the Tribunal.
At the very beginning of his trial, he vowed to defend himself with “political speeches that are better than yours”.
He claimed that he had been vindicated after he was acquitted in March 2016 of persecution on political, racial and religious grounds. The verdict determined that the creation of a ‘Greater Serbia’ was his political goal, but it did not necessarily imply that he committed crimes.
The prosecution appealed and the second-instance verdict is due on Wednesday, but Seselj will not be in court to hear it – he has not returned from Serbia since he was temporarily released for cancer treatment in November 2014.
During his trial, Seselj was convicted of contempt of court three times because he disclosed the identity of protected witnesses, and sentenced to a total of four years and nine months in prison.
The first indictment for contempt of court was filed in January 2009. Seselj was accused of having interfered with the administration of justice by disclosing the names of three protected witnesses in a book he authored.
He pleaded not guilty, saying the book was not intended for the general public. During the proceedings, he said his intention was not to disclose the names of the protected witnesses or intimidate them, but to “publicly expose a conspiracy” related to certain events mentioned in the indictment.
Despite that, court determined that “the book contains extensive and detailed personal data about the witnesses in question under their full names or pseudonyms assigned to them for the purpose of the Seselj case”.
“The Trial Chamber notes with grave concern the deliberate way in which the protective measures were violated. The Chamber considers this a serious interference with the administration of justice, giving particular consideration to the potential adverse impact that such conduct may have upon witnesses’ confidence in the International Tribunal’s ability to guarantee the effectiveness of protective measures,” the verdict said.
Seselj filed an appeal against the verdict, saying the Tribunal had no jurisdiction to conduct proceedings for contempt of court and that the punishment was too harsh, but the appeals chamber upheld the original ruling.
For more read the full of article at The Balkaninsight
