Vojislav Šešelj

Who is Vojislav Šešelj?

Vojislav Šešelj is a Serbian politician, writer and lawyer. He is the founder and president of the Serbian Radical Party. He was a member of the Serbian Parliament.

He is on trial for alleged war crimes and is suspected of being involved in crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. He surrendered voluntarily in February 2003 but his trial did not begin until November 2007. In February 2009, the prosecution presented 71 witnesses against Šešelj. With seven hours left in the prosecution, his trial was suspended due to claims of alleged witness intimidation. The trial resumed on 12 January 2009, and Šešelj stated that there was no need to call any witnesses in his defense since the prosecution had not presented a single worthy witness. On 24 July 2009, he was sentenced to a further 15 months in custody for disrespecting the court.

As of January 2013, the trial is still under way and Šešelj is still in custody. This is partly due to a hunger strike, his decision to not appear for his opening statement, and the aforementioned witness intimidation. A verdict will be delivered in October 2013.