Sat, May 26 2012

Serb war crimes accused Šešelj charged with contempt of court

Tue, May 24 2011 21:41 CET

byThe Sofia Echo staff

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Serb war crimes accused Šešelj charged with contempt of court

Serbian ultra-nationalist leader Vojislav Šešelj makes his first appearance at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, February 26, 2003.

Photo: Reuters

Serb Radical Party leader Vojislav Šešelj, on trial in the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), has for a third time been charged with contempt of court for failing to remove from his website information about protected witnesses in his trial.

He is accused of ethnic cleansing and other atrocities in Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia between 1991 and 1994.

Šešelj turned himself in eight years ago to face the charges in The Hague tribunal.

The confidential information published by Šešelj on his website include three books authored by the accused and five confidential filings submitted by him as part of his main trial and two previous trials for contempt of court, according to a statement by the ICTY.

These books and filings reveal confidential information about a number of protected witnesses who testified in his main trial in the ICTY for alleged war crimes. 

This is the third time that Šešelj has been charged with contempt of the ICTY.

The previous charges relate to two of the three books listed in the latest indictment.

On May 19 2010 the Appeals Chamber confirmed the Trial Chambers finding that Šešelj was guilty of contempt for disclosing the personal details of protected witnesses in a book he authored.

Šešelj was ordered to remove the book from his website.

On February 4 2010 contempt proceedings were initiated against Šešelj for a second time for disclosing the personal details of protected witnesses in another book he authored.

Proceedings are ongoing and on January 31 2011 the Trial Chamber gave an order for the book to be removed from the website. 

Separately, on February 17 2011, the Trial Chamber ordered Šešelj to remove a third book from his website, which contains confidential information relating to protected witnesses.

Šešelj has failed to comply with this and all previous orders to remove the three books and confidential filings from the public domain, the court said. 

The Trial Chamber will prosecute this case itself. An initial appearance at which Šešelj will be called to enter a plea to the charge will be scheduled in due course, the ICTY said.  

"The Tribunal regards the integrity of witnesses and confidential materials as essential elements in the rule of law. Several persons who have attempted to interfere with the judicial process by revealing confidential information have been prosecuted," the ICTY said. 

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