Five Serbian radicals charged with contempt before Hague court

9 months ago 28

Five members of the Serbian Radical Party, including the leader previously incarcerated, Vojislav Šešelj, have been charged with contempt of court before the International Residual Mechanism for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the Hague, the party confirmed.

Besides Šešelj – who spoke to the SRNA agency about the situation- the court in the Hague also charged Serbian Radical Party (SRS) members Miljan Damjanović, Ljiljana and Ognjen Mihajlović, and Miroljub Ignjatović.

“Until now, only an investigation and no indictment were conducted. Now it has been brought against me and four other colleagues from the SRS for printing my books and publishing the names and data of protected false witnesses and confidential documents,” said Šešelj.

While the radical leader said he would comply with the indictment decision, he could not confirm whether a request for his extradition to the Hague court had already arrived in Serbia.

“I have decided to publish the complete Hague dossier, about a million documents. As long as I am breathing, I will do so. There is no way they can stop me,” Šešelj added.

Another of those charged by the residual court in The Hague is SRS vice-president Miljan Damjanović, who said he is accused of contempt of court for distributing Šešelj’s books.

“They are prosecuting me because, as they allege, I made available to the public, through publication, advertising, sale, and other means of distribution, books containing confidential information, as well as because I made available to the public video recordings of court sessions, which the whole of Serbia watched in delayed transmission,” Damjanović told the Politika newspaper.

“In those books, which they are afraid of, Šešelj exposed all the subterfuges and lies, as well as their instructed witnesses”, he said, adding that the radicals distributed and sold over 150,000 copies of those books to citizens of Serbia and beyond.

“The indictment was brought because I refused the nebulous order of the secretariat to take back all copies of the book and deliver them to them – the Hague inquisitors,” Damjanović said, stating that he would not agree to participate in the burning of books.

Damjanović also lamented the indictment’s timing, criticising it for arriving amid the current pre-election campaign ahead of elections set for 17 December, calling the tribunal political.

“Interestingly, there were more ‘suspects’, and the indictment was brought against only those of us who did not leave SRS”, he added.

(Milena Antonijević | Euractiv.rs)