The trial chamber in the case against Vojislav Seselj said at a status conference at the Hague tribunal on Tuesday that it would decide on how to proceed with the case against the leader of the Serbian Radical Party, charged with war crimes committed in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and against Croats in Vojvodina, following the failure to resolve a dispute over the financing of Seselj's defence and his failure to submit on time lists of evidence material and defence witnesses.
Seselj was to present his evidence after in May the trial chamber rejected his motion to turn down the indictment because it concluded that the evidence supported the prosecution's allegations that Seselj's incendiary speeches incited his volunteer units to commit crimes in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Vojvodina.
He threatened on several occasions this year that he would not present his evidence unless several conditions were met, including the financing of his defence and the status of his legal advisors. In July he filed a motion for discontinuing war crimes proceedings against him, citing a grave violation of the right to a trial within a reasonable time.
Recalling that after almost nine years of detention, there was still no judgment in his case, Seselj called for putting an end to "this quasi-legal farce" and "unprecedented legal scandal in the recent history of law."
This was Seselj's 475th motion to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), and the tribunal has not decided on it yet.
This month the deadline expired for Seselj to submit lists of evidence and witnesses to be introduced during his defence.
Seselj said at today's status conference that he had been prevented from preparing his defence because the tribunal refused to pay for his defence, adding that he could not submit lists of evidence and witnesses because the tribunal's registry launched disciplinary proceedings against his legal advisors who were to have done that job.
"I didn't decide not to present defence evidence, but was prevented from doing so because my defence was not financed... and I am ready for the closing statement," Seselj said, asking the court to give him ten days for that.
"I don't care about your ruling. I'll make history directly from this courtroom," he said.
The trial chamber explained to Seselj that the tribunal registry had asked him to submit bills for his defence costs that were never submitted and the presiding judge told him that he was using legal tricks to win over the public.
Seselj claims that the tribunal owes him 1.4 million euros in defence costs.
Seselj has been in the custody of the Hague tribunal since February 2003. He is accused of having tried, together with other participants in a joint criminal enterprise led by Slobodan Milosevic, to establish a new Serbian state in areas of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia by a state-approved campaign of persecution which included the killing, deportation and torture of the Croat and Muslim populations and the plunder and destruction of their property.
The trial in this case started in November 2007.
