Members of the far right Serbian Radical Party have asked the Russian embassy in Belgrade to provide legal assistance for party leader Vojislav Seselj, who is on trial in The Hague for alleged war crimes, the Russian diplomatic service told RIA Novosti.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that Russia was ready to render legal assistance in Seselj’s case.
Members of the Serbian Radical Party have collected 600,000 signatures in a petition drive for Seselj's release. Acting party leader Dragan Todorovic said the prosecution of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) had failed to prove the charges. He accused the court of dragging out the trial, apparently in the hopes Seselj, whose health is poor, will die in custody.
It was reported on Wednesday night that Seselj was taken to hospital for tachyrhythmia and arrhythmia and falling arterial pressure. But he was returned to the detention center on Thursday.
Seselj surrendered to the ICTY in 2003. The hearings started in November 2007. The charges against him include forced deportation, destruction of property, murder and torture during Bosnian and Croatian Wars.
