Serb nationalist rejects UN court

THE HAGUE – Serb nationalist Vojislav Seselj yesterday denounced the UN tribunal trying him for alleged war crimes, calling it illegal and anti-Serb.

Seselj, leader of Serbia’s largest political party, the Radicals, is being tried by the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal on charges he used nationalist hate speeches to whip up fear and loathing among his supporters and sending murderous paramilitaries to front lines in Croatia and Bosnia to commit atrocities. His trial, which started Wednesday, is seen as one of the most important since the case of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and one of the tribunal’s last chances to hold Serb leaders responsible for atrocities during the Balkan wars of the 1990s.The court is scheduled to close in 2010.Prosecutors also accuse Seselj of plotting with Milosevic and other political leaders to drive non-Serbs out of parts of Croatia and Bosnia they considered part of a ‘greater Serbia’.Milosevic, seen as the chief architect of the wars, died in his cell last year before his four-year trial could end.Two other main suspects, former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his military chief General Ratko Mladic, are still on the run.Seselj has pleaded innocent to charges of murder, persecution, inhumane treatment and wanton destruction of property, including religious buildings.He faces a maximum life sentence if convicted.Seselj, a firebrand orator whose speeches fueld soaring Serb nationalist sentiment before and during the wars in Croatia and Bosnia, used his opening statement to attack the tribunal and its supporters.”I am being tried by an illegal and illegitimate court,” he said.He also accused the tribunal of having ‘a pronounced anti-Serb orientation’, a claim often made by Serbian opponents of the court, which has indicted far more Serbs than it has Croats or Bosnian Muslims.Seselj also accused the court of ‘falsifying modern Serb history’ by accusing Serbs of genocide for massacring between 7 000 and 8 000 Muslims in Srebrenica in 1995.Seselj said the number of executions was far lower.”One thousand prisoners of war were executed,” he said.”It is an atrocious crime, but it is not genocide.”He also mocked prosecutors for what he said were errors in biographical details in his indictment.The indictment “says that originally I was a communist.That is not true – originally, I was a baby,” he said, drawing laughter from the public gallery.An hour into his speech, Judge Flavia Lattanzi asked Seselj to lower his voice and slow down to help interpreters.”You have to understand, Mrs.Judge, that adrenaline has been rising in me for five years and now is the day that all the pent-up adrenaline is venting,” he said.Nampa-APHis trial, which started Wednesday, is seen as one of the most important since the case of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and one of the tribunal’s last chances to hold Serb leaders responsible for atrocities during the Balkan wars of the 1990s.The court is scheduled to close in 2010.Prosecutors also accuse Seselj of plotting with Milosevic and other political leaders to drive non-Serbs out of parts of Croatia and Bosnia they considered part of a ‘greater Serbia’.Milosevic, seen as the chief architect of the wars, died in his cell last year before his four-year trial could end.Two other main suspects, former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his military chief General Ratko Mladic, are still on the run.Seselj has pleaded innocent to charges of murder, persecution, inhumane treatment and wanton destruction of property, including religious buildings.He faces a maximum life sentence if convicted.Seselj, a firebrand orator whose speeches fueld soaring Serb nationalist sentiment before and during the wars in Croatia and Bosnia, used his opening statement to attack the tribunal and its supporters.”I am being tried by an illegal and illegitimate court,” he said.He also accused the tribunal of having ‘a pronounced anti-Serb orientation’, a claim often made by Serbian opponents of the court, which has indicted far more Serbs than it has Croats or Bosnian Muslims.Seselj also accused the court of ‘falsifying modern Serb history’ by accusing Serbs of genocide for massacring between 7 000 and 8 000 Muslims in Srebrenica in 1995.Seselj said the number of executions was far lower.”One thousand prisoners of war were executed,” he said.”It is an atrocious crime, but it is not genocide.”He also mocked prosecutors for what he said were errors in biographical details in his indictment.The indictment “says that originally I was a communist.That is not true – originally, I was a baby,” he said, drawing laughter from the public gallery.An hour into his speech, Judge Flavia Lattanzi asked Seselj to lower his voice and slow down to help interpreters.”You have to understand, Mrs.Judge, that adrenaline has been rising in me for five years and now is the day that all the pent-up adrenaline is venting,” he said.Nampa-AP