Seselj's Hague trial to resume in January

25/11/2009

THE HAGUE, The Netherlands -- The trial of Serbian Radical Party leader Vojislav Seselj will resume at the UN war crimes tribunal on January 12th, the court said Tuesday (November 24th). The proceedings were suspended in February after a witness claimed he received threats from Seselj, who is charged with war crimes against non-Serbs in Croatia Vojvodina and Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1991 and 1993.

In other news, the head of Serbia's national council for co-operation with the UN tribunal, Rasim Ljajic, said on Tuesday that arresting supporters of former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic was a mistake. He explained that those supporters could have led authorities to the fugitive. War crimes prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic voiced a similar opinion in an interview with the Vecernje Novosti on Tuesday. Ljajic pointed out that the arrests were made in an effort to prove Serbia's co-operation with the tribunal.

Separately Tuesday, the government chose Miodrag Majic, president of the First Municipal Court in Belgrade, to represent Serbia at the International Court of Justice during hearings next month on the legality of Kosovo's independence. (Beta, Danas, RTS - 24/11/09)