ICTY: Financial Support to Vojislav Seselj

Seselj will receive the funds unless the Appellate Chamber of the Hague Tribunal revokes a decision made by the Trial Chamber that allowed for the financial support.

In late October 2010, Trial Chamber Chairman Jean-Claude Antonetti ordered the Tribunal’s Secretariat to provide financial support to Seselj, who is representing himself, by providing him with 50 per cent of the usual amount paid to indictees who are in difficult financial situations.  
 
Seselj, the president of the Serbian Radical Party, SRS, is on trial before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, ICTY, for crimes committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia.
 
The Tribunal’s Secretariat appealed the October decision, claiming the Trial Chamber had no authority to render decisions about providing the indictee with financial support and there was no data proving that Seselj was “in a difficult financial situation”.
 
The Secretariat says that the indictee “constantly refuses to cooperate”, adding he has still not submitted information or documents needed to determine his financial situation since 2003.
 
According to Tribunal’s regulations, an indictee representing himself or requesting financial support for his defence must prove that he is not capable of financing it himself.
 
The Appellate Chamber will hold a session on Monday, November 29, to render a decision concerning the appeal.
 
Victims groups from Bosnia and Herzegovina consider the Trial Chamber’s decision “shameful and unacceptable”.
 
“It is shameful to provide financial support to those who do not accept the attorneys offered by the Tribunal. Why would they finance his defence, given the fact he decided that he would represent himself. It was his choice,” Asim Zulic, President of the Association of Detainees of Sarajevo Canton, asked.
 
Saja Coric, President of the Association of Female Detainees from Vojno, near Mostar, agreed, saying the decision was “painful” to her and Seselj’s financial situation should be urgently checked.  
 
“We could expect such decisions to be made, not only by the ICTY but also the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The State has financed defence teams for several years, although we know very well what their financial situations are. At the same time, victims are dying as they do not even have enough money to pay for their medications….” Coric said.
 
Seselj has been representing himself before the ICTY since 2003, and he has received support from his associates, members of the SRS.
 
Among other counts, the Prosecution has charged him with persecution, murder, torture, deportation, beating and the intentional destruction of the homes and religious buildings of non-Serb committed on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Croatia and Serbia from 1991 to 1993.
 
His trial began in late 2007, but he appeared before the Court for the first time in February 2003 after surrendering to the Tribunal.
 
During the course of his preparations for the trial, Seselj requested financial support in the amount of nearly $6.5 million from the Tribunal Secretariat.