Guarantees offered for release of seriously ill Šešelj

Guarantees offered for release of seriously ill Šešelj

Considering this new turn of events, the court is considering granting temporary release to the accused, a statement said.

The UN tribunal further noted that it previously also considered the possibility of granting provisional release to Šešelj but that "due to the lack of his cooperation that procedure was canceled. "

Previously, Milovan Bojić, a member of a medical council that recently visited the leader of the Serb Radical Party (SRS) in the Hague, said his colon cancer had metastasized to the liver.

Bojić also stated that Šešelj "had not received adequate treatment" for the initial condition. The doctor suggested that Šešelj should be released so he can receive medical treatment in Serbia.

The cabinet of the president of the National Council for Cooperation with the Hague Tribunal Rasim Ljajić stated today that the Serbian government's position on this issue remains the same as it was when the court previously sought similar guarantees.

At the time, the government sent a positive reply - provided that Šešelj agreed to comply with the Hague's conditions, which he did not.

The court at the time demanded that Šešelj remains under house arrest while on provisional release, and be assigned police escort during "movement for medical purposes"; the conditions included a ban on communications with the victims related to his case, a ban on public consideration of his case, a ban on participation in "the political life," and confiscation of his passport.

Ljajić on Wednesday stressed that the government was concerned over the latest developments regarding Šešelj's health and was in that sense prepared to offer its guarantees - provided the suspect this time agreed to honor them.

Šešelj has been held in custody by the Hague Tribunal for the past 11 years, since he turned himself in in early 2003. His trial started on 2007 and is still ongoing.

Šešelj is accused of war crimes committed from 1991 until 1993 in Croatia, Bosnia, and Vojvodina.