Post by radovic on Nov 13, 2007 11:37:18 GMT -5
Serb wishes to die a martyr 'like Saddam'
On trial for ethnic cleansing
Stephanie Van Den Berg, Agence France-Presse, With Files From Reuters
Published: Friday, November 09, 2007
THE HAGUE - Serbian ultranationalist politician Vojislav Seselj cast himself as a martyr yesterday, daring the UN war crimes court to give him the harshest possible sentence and wishing for the death penalty so that he could join "my friend Saddam Hussein" and die with dignity.
"The harsher the sentence, the stronger my ideology will become," said Mr. Seselj, leader of Serbia's biggest political party, as he addressed the court on the second day of his trial.
Mr. Seselj denies charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes, including persecution, deportation, murder and torture, committed by his volunteer troops during the 1990s Balkan wars.
In a thundering speech, Mr. Seselj said he regretted that the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia did not have the death sentence.
"So that proudly, with dignity, upright like my friend Saddam Hussein I could put the final seal on my ideology ? I have lived long enough but I want immortality for my ideology," he said.
He berated the "illegal" court for what he said was its anti-Serb bias and blasted the prosecution for its "false indictment."
Mr. Seselj is accused of forming a joint criminal enterprise with the late Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic to "ethnically cleanse" large parts of Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia's northern Vojvodina region.
Prosecutors argue that Mr. Seselj's inflammatory speeches incited Serb volunteer fighters and paramilitaries to commit atrocities. They have labelled him "the man who gave the world ethnic cleansing."
During the 1991-95 wars in Croatia and Bosnia, Mr. Seselj's party sent its paramilitaries to the frontlines. At least five ex-members of the so-called White Eagles are on trial.
"I am being tried because of my nationalist ideology and my speeches. I am proud of that," Mr. Seselj told the court.
Before adjourning the hearing, Judge Jean-Claude Antonetti assured Mr. Seselj the tribunal would not convict him on the basis of his ideology but that it would look at the facts.
At one point during Mr. Seselj's statement, the court asked him to speak more slowly and softly. Mr. Seselj promised to try but said: "Adrenalin has been rising in me for five years and now is the day."
On trial for ethnic cleansing
Stephanie Van Den Berg, Agence France-Presse, With Files From Reuters
Published: Friday, November 09, 2007
THE HAGUE - Serbian ultranationalist politician Vojislav Seselj cast himself as a martyr yesterday, daring the UN war crimes court to give him the harshest possible sentence and wishing for the death penalty so that he could join "my friend Saddam Hussein" and die with dignity.
"The harsher the sentence, the stronger my ideology will become," said Mr. Seselj, leader of Serbia's biggest political party, as he addressed the court on the second day of his trial.
Mr. Seselj denies charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes, including persecution, deportation, murder and torture, committed by his volunteer troops during the 1990s Balkan wars.
In a thundering speech, Mr. Seselj said he regretted that the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia did not have the death sentence.
"So that proudly, with dignity, upright like my friend Saddam Hussein I could put the final seal on my ideology ? I have lived long enough but I want immortality for my ideology," he said.
He berated the "illegal" court for what he said was its anti-Serb bias and blasted the prosecution for its "false indictment."
Mr. Seselj is accused of forming a joint criminal enterprise with the late Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic to "ethnically cleanse" large parts of Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia's northern Vojvodina region.
Prosecutors argue that Mr. Seselj's inflammatory speeches incited Serb volunteer fighters and paramilitaries to commit atrocities. They have labelled him "the man who gave the world ethnic cleansing."
During the 1991-95 wars in Croatia and Bosnia, Mr. Seselj's party sent its paramilitaries to the frontlines. At least five ex-members of the so-called White Eagles are on trial.
"I am being tried because of my nationalist ideology and my speeches. I am proud of that," Mr. Seselj told the court.
Before adjourning the hearing, Judge Jean-Claude Antonetti assured Mr. Seselj the tribunal would not convict him on the basis of his ideology but that it would look at the facts.
At one point during Mr. Seselj's statement, the court asked him to speak more slowly and softly. Mr. Seselj promised to try but said: "Adrenalin has been rising in me for five years and now is the day."