Serbian ultranationalist Vojislav Seselj went on trial yesterday at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal for allegedly taking part in a wide-ranging criminal plot to drive non-Serbs out of large parts of Bosnia and Croatia using a regime of terror that included murder, torture and rape.
Seselj, a 52-year-old former political science lecturer in Sarajevo, is one of the most senior political figures in tribunal custody and his trial marks another attempt by the UN court to prosecute those it considers most responsible for the brutal wars that tore Yugoslavia apart.
He is charged with recruiting notorious Serb paramilitary forces, fanning ethnic tensions with hate-laced nationalistic speeches and planning the takeover of towns in Croatia and Bosnia as part of a criminal plot -- involving other political and military leaders including former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic -- to drive non-Serbs out of regions he considered part of a Greater Serbia.
Among atrocities committed by forces taking part in the alleged criminal plot were "the extermination or murder of many Croat, Muslim and other non-Serb civilians including women, children and the elderly," Seselj's indictment said.
With most-wanted suspects former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his military chief General Ratko Mladic still on the run and the Security Council pressing the tribunal to complete all trials by the end of 2008, it could be one of the last.
Seselj is a close associate of Milosevic, who died in tribunal custody in March before his four-year genocide trial could be completed, and leader of the Radical Party, which has the most lawmakers in Serbia's parliament.
In Belgrade, Radical Party official Aleksandar Vucic said on Saturday that if the trial went ahead yesterday without Seselj, Seselj would file another demand to the tribunal to have all the hearings so far annulled.
Seselj claimed at a pretrial hearing last week that his voice was too weak for him to appear in court and it was not clear if he planned to attend court yesterday.
Seselj intends to continue the hunger strike he began 15 days ago, even if he is forced to take an intravenous drip, Vucic said.
Milosevic's aborted trial led to a storm of criticism that the court's cases take too long. As a result, judges ordered Seselj's original 14-count indictment trimmed to nine counts and have also warned Seselj against disrupting his case as he conducts his own defense.
Seselj surrendered voluntarily in Feb. 2003 declaring his innocence and vowing to turn the proceedings against him into a circus.
If convicted, Seselj will face a maximum possible sentence of life imprisonment.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of