| Unruly Serb taunts war crimes tribunal | ||
|
Marlise
Simons NYT |
Tuesday, February 3, 2004 | |
Defendant even outplays Milosevic
THE
HAGUE Slobodan Milosevic is being upstaged. For the past two years, the
former Yugoslav president has noisily challenged the international tribunal that
is trying him for war crimes, by pontificating, denigrating his judges and
dismissing his trial as a mere anti-Serb farce. But a fellow Serb, the
ultranationalist politician and warlord Vojislav Seselj, is now outdoing
Milosevic in insolence. Taken together, their behavior illustrates some of the
difficulties this court faces. Frustratingly slow at times, it deals with
Croatian, Muslim and Serbian defendants accused of atrocities in the 1990's wars
that broke up Yugoslavia.
Seselj, who turned himself in a year ago,
has sneered that the UN court is just an "American tool against Serbs," which he
"will blast to pieces."
Known in Serbia for his rabble-rousing
speeches and foul language, he has now brought these habits to The Hague. He has
equated a judge with the Nazis, accused the tribunal registrar of financial
crimes, fired off motions that amount to insulting diatribes, and managed to
outwit his prison guards - and his trial has not even begun.
Some court officials wonder how a proper
and fair trial of such an obstructive defendant can be conducted. "Other accused
have their ways of being difficult," said Jim Landale, the tribunal spokesman,
"but we have not seen such extreme verbal assaults before."
Like Milosevic, Seselj, 49, is conducting
his own defense, which allows him to hold the floor in court, even now at
preparatory hearings. Seselj, a former Sarajevo University lecturer who founded
an ultranationalist political party and his own armed militia, faces charges of
crimes against humanity and war crimes in Bosnia and Croatia in the 1990's. His
indictment states that he ordered persecutions, plunder and killings, and that
he is accountable for the atrocities perpetrated by his gang, known as Seselj's
men. Prosecutors and witnesses say he often directed the fighters as they
terrorized, robbed and killed non-Serbian civilians.
In December , Seselj managed to use the
jail telephone to campaign for his Radical Party in the parliamentary elections
of Serbia. Milosevic did the same for his Socialist Party. When the tribunal
discovered they were broadcasting on Belgrade radio, it imposed a temporary ban
on all calls except to family and lawyers. Milosevic reportedly respected the
ban, a court official said, but Seselj gave another interview on Dec. 25 from a
public phone near his cell, telling listeners in Belgrade that he was able to
trick his guards because "the fools are all busy celebrating Christmas."
Seselj's party won almost 28 percent of
the vote, making it the largest political force in the country. The episodes
point up the challenge of trying to stop these two seasoned politicians from
exercising their influence from their cells. Court officials are even more
concerned about the plans of both to use their trials as political platforms.
Proceedings are regularly broadcast to
the Balkans, and while Milosevic's influence at home has waned, his past
defiance and now Seselj's courtroom histrionics draw applause or amusement in
Serbia. When the court gave Seselj a computer to try to stop him from filing his
lengthy motions scribbled by hand, he reportedly announced he wouldn't touch it
because he feared electric shocks.
During one session he requested that the
judges change their red-and-black courtroom robes, saying they caused him deep
psychological problems, reminding him of the Inquisition. In court, the judges
have shrugged off or played down most of his antics, calling them "frivolous."
But behind the scenes, Seselj has sometimes provoked outrage, particularly with
his motion demanding that his three judges be disqualified. He said Wolfgang
Schomburg, the presiding judge, should step down because he was from Germany.
"Whenever I see Wolfgang Schomburg I remember
Auschwitz, Mauthausen and Jasenovac," Seselj wrote. "The smell
of crematoriums and gas chambers comes into the Hague courtroom with him."
As for the two other judges, he wrote,
they were "ardent and zealous Catholics," which meant they belonged to "one of
the most dangerous international criminal organizations."
In a highly unusual move, the court has
now imposed a standby counsel on Seselj. It ruled that if his conduct becomes
too disruptive, he will be removed from the courtroom and the standby counsel
will take over.
Seselj retorted that he would have
nothing to do with the counsel and would sue the court for violating his rights.
The New York Times
http://www.iht.com/articles/127767.html
