Seselj says he is unwilling to return to The Hague voluntarily

Baku. 14 November. REPORT.AZ/ Vojislav Seselj, the leader of the Serbian Radical Party who returned to Belgrade on November 12 after spending 12 years at the Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia /ICTY/, told journalists on Thursday that he would not surrender to the Hague Tribunal for the second time and would not return to The Hague voluntarily.

Seselj, 60, surrendered to the ICTY on February 24, 2003. He was accused of inciting inter-ethnic strife and crimes against the non-Serbian population in Croatia, Vojvodina /Serbia/ and Bosnia & Herzegovina during the Yugoslav wars in 1991-1993.

On November 6, the Hague Tribunal agreed to temporarily release Seselj from custody “for reasons of humanity” and allowed him to return to his home country to undergo cancer treatment after Serbia had provided strong guarantees that he would be returned to the Hague at the first request, informs Report citing TASS.

The Serb radical leader is suffering from liver metastases. In December 2013, Seselj was operated in the Netherlands for malignant tumour in the colon and underwent a course of chemical therapy.

Earlier on Thursday, Serge Brammmetz, the ICTY’s chief prosecutor, said a verdict on Vojislav Seselj would not be passed earlier than late 2015.

Seselj said if he needed to return to The Hague by the time of the verdict, “President Tomislav Nikolic and Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic would have to seize him and send him back to The Hague.

“It would be a historical and legal paradox if I had to be handed over by my closest associates and accomplices to war crimes and crimes against humanity. Do you think that I would miss such a chance?” Seselj asked.