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Serb leader Seselj to sue ICTY for 14 mln euros compensation

Xinhua, March 31, 2016 Adjust font size:

Vojislav Seselj, the leader of the Serbian Radical Party, said here on Thursday he would ask for 14 million euros (15.96 million U.S. dollars) in compensation from the International Criminal Tribunal of the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

Seselj held a press conference at his party headquarters in Belgrade after he was acquitted by the ICTY of all charges for war crimes and crimes against humanity during the war in former Yugoslavia.

Despite the ruling, he said he still saw the court as anti-Serbian.

Seselj, who had been in detention since 2003 for three counts of crimes against humanity and six counts of war crimes in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the province of Vojvodina in the Republic of Serbia, said the two judges who voted for the ruling had shown "professionalism, honor and dignity above any political pressure."

Seselj, 61, who was diagnosed with cancer three years ago, was temporarily released from his 12-year detention in the Netherlands last year, and returned to Belgrade.

Asked about the law suit against the Hague Tribunal, Seselj said it was necessary to wait to see whether the prosecution would file an appeal and reminded that back in 2012 he had already filed a claim for damages, demanding 12 million euros from the ICTY.

He said he now wanted to increase the demand by two million euros to make up for "mental suffering" for the four years he spent in custody since the trial ended, awaiting the verdict.

He would donate a large part of the compensation to the Radical Party, he said.

"I would also like to help Serbian cultural institutions with this money," Seselj said, adding that he was not planning to sue Serbia.

In a six-year trial which began in 2006, the prosecution accused Seselj of encouraging and supporting war crimes in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina and expelling Croats from Vojvodina with hate speech. The not-guilty verdict was read in The Hague on Thursday while he was in Serbia on temporary release from detention for medical treatment.

"My attitude towards the Hague tribunal as an anti-Serb court and instrument of the new world order has not changed," said Seselj at the press conference, adding he felt regretful for others accused in front of the court who "did not have such honorable and fair judges."

He did not comment on how the verdict would influence the result of his Radical Party at snap elections scheduled for April 24, but he said he expected to win some 20 to 25 percent of votes and that he would be glad to win more votes than the ruling Progressive Party.

Seselj who legally represented himself in front of the ICTY said he knew from the beginning the prosecution would not be able to prove the charges against him. Endit