- Sputnik International
World
Get the latest news from around the world, live coverage, off-beat stories, features and analysis.

Tomorrow is a Big Day for The Hague, But Not for Me – Vojislav Seselj

© AFP 2023 / VALERIE KUYPERS Војислав Шешељ у Хагу
Војислав Шешељ у Хагу - Sputnik International
Subscribe
As The Hague tribunal prepares to give its verdict on charges against the leader of Serbia's Radical Party on Thursday, Vojislav Seselj tells Sputnik Serbia that "tomorrow is an ordinary day."

Ex-Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic sits in the court of the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the Hague, the Netherlands March 24, 2016 - Sputnik International
World
ICTY Finds Karadzic Guilty of Srebrenica Genocide
On Thursday morning the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) will give its verdict on charges against Vojislav Seselj, the leader of Serbia's Radical Party.

Seselj, who was first indicted by the ICTY in 2003, is currently in Serbia after being temporarily released from imprisonment in The Hague in 2014 so that he could receive treatment for serious illness. 

The Serbian Radical Party (SRS) leader told Sputnik Serbia that regardless of The Hague's judgement tomorrow he will not be paying attention to the verdict, and refuses to voluntarily return to the Netherlands to serve any sentence the court may give him.

Instead, Seselj is focusing on the campaign trail ahead of parliamentary elections in Serbia on April 24, about which he is feeling "very optimistic."

"Tomorrow I'm carrying out party business, we have our regular press conference, a meeting in Pancevo at 17:00, and in the evening I'm appearing on a television program."

Radovan Karadzic - Sputnik International
Russian Foreign Ministry Blasts the Hague for Unfairly Targeting Serbs
Seselj said that if he is sentenced to prison he will not travel to The Hague voluntarily, unlike he did when he was indicted in 2003, and shared a rumor he heard that he will be sentenced to 25 years in prison.

"I'm definitely not going voluntarily," he said.

"Bruno Vekaric (Serbia's deputy prosecutor for war crimes) told some Croatian officials while he was in The Hague and in Zagreb that he had found out that my punishment will be 25 years imprisonment. I informed the public about that straightaway. I don't know if his information is correct."

"The verdict doesn't interest me at all," said Seselj, adding that he does not believe it will have any consequences for Serbia.

"The country is not involved in any way in what I am charged with. They could sentence me to 100 years, the country wouldn't have any consequences."

The ICTY has charged Vojislav Seselj with three counts of crimes against humanity and six counts of violations of the laws or customs of war, allegedly committed on the territory of what are now Croatia, Bosnia and Hercegovina and the Serbian province of Vojvodina during the break-up of the former Yugoslavia; Seselj denies all the charges. 

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала