On the second day of his war crimes trial, Vojislav Seselj, a radical nationalist who is still an influential and popular politician in Serbia, had the chance to demonstrate some of his legendary speechmaking prowess. And so he did.
For four hours, the maximum time allowed for his opening statement, Seselj lectured the court on Serbian linguistics and history, told his judges they were paid not to think, was scathing about Slobodan Milosevic, the US, Germany and the Vatican, quoted from Tolstoy and dissected the legal aspects of the notion of "hate speech," of which he stands accused.
But for melodrama, nothing could match his oratorical drumroll near the end of a long morning on Thursday. Evidently addressing his television audience at home, Seselj said he was especially grateful to the court and the prosecution "for allowing me to suffer for my ideology," that of Serbian nationalism.
PHOTO: AFP
However, his greatest regret, he said, was that the founders of the tribunal had not envisaged the death penalty, "so that proudly, with dignity, my head upright like my friend Saddam Hussein, I could die and put the final seal on my ideology. It would become immortal. I have lived long enough."
Reporters from Belgrade, Serbia, following the proceedings, described the address, not given under oath, as a "vintage Seselj speech."
It has been almost five years since Seselj, 53, a sociologist and former warlord who commanded his own violent militia, voluntarily arrived at the UN detention center in the Hague.
He is still the leader of the Radical Party in Serbia, and the indictment says he was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of civilians.
He has awaited his turn amid others -- Serbs, Croats and Bosnian Muslims -- facing charges of crimes from the 1990s wars of the former Yugoslavia.
Seselj has been indicted for inciting crimes against humanity and war crimes, which, prosecutors argue, are the result of years of his delivering fanatical and war-mongering speeches and the orders he gave to his own militia operating both in Croatia and Bosnia as they terrorized, robbed and killed civilians to drive them from what he regarded as Serbian lands.
His case has been delayed by the court's slow pace and heavy workload, as well as by multiple obstructions set by Seselj himself.
Last year, as soon as his trial began, he went on a 28-day hunger strike over various demands.
Acting as his own lawyer, Seselj earlier demanded that thousands of documents disclosed by the prosecution be translated into Serbian and delivered in print. Seselj has returned all materials that the prosecution provided electronically.
The Seselj trial is under way in the same glass-enclosed courtroom where former president Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia faced his judges until his death last year, shortly before the trial's end.
The two men, variously rivals and allies, knew each other but were never friends.
Seselj said Thursday that he, not Milosevic, was the creator of the ideal of "Greater Serbia." Seselj also said that Greater Serbia would encompass all lands outside Serbia where, he said, the "true Serbian language," or the Stokavian dialect, was spoken.
As was Milosevic's custom, Seselj berated the judges on Thursday, called the court illegal, and working according to the dictates of the US. Its task, he said, was "to prosecute Serbs." Its judges, he said, "are paid not to think.
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
RSS