Hague: No interfering in Serbian politics

The Hague Tribunal says it cannot prevent Vojislav Seselj from conferring on the Radicals' political moves in Serbia. Representatives of the UN war crimes court, located in The Hague, told B92 today that restrictions on the defendants' communication with the outside world are only introduced when there is suspicion they are using the conversations to plan escape, endanger the safety of witnesses, obstruct trials or order in the detention unit. Hague: No interfering in Serbian politics "The court is not engaged in appraisals of whether Seselj's conversations influence the political events in Serbia," the tribunal officials explained. They also confirmed that, just as other detainees, Seselj can watch Serbia's state broadcaster RTS, but would not comment on whether or not he followed live broadcasts of Serbian parliament's sessions last week, to then instruct his SRS lawmakers by phone. Seselj, the leader of the Serb Radical Party (SRS, is undergoing trial on war crimes charges. His deputy, Tomislav Nikolic, on Friday resigned, apparently after a disagreement with the party boss over the ratification of the SAA. Parliament is currently debating this agreement. Earlier, media in Serbia speculated that the curses and insults hurled from the parliamentary rostrum last week at President Boris Tadic, but also "at any Radical that cooperates with him", came as a result of a strategy agreed on with Seselj, on the phone from The Hague. The Hague detention unit in Scheveningen rules state that detainees can use the phone each day 09:00-17:00 local time, according to "reasonable necessities of the detention unit's daily schedule", and the money they have at their disposal, considering that the calls are not free of charge. The calls are placed under the prison authorities' surveillance and can be interrupted. Considering that Seselj is conducting his own defense, he has the right to so-called privileged communication with his legal team members, which is not supervised and remains confidential. The members of the team are SRS officials Aleksandar Vucic, Zoran Krasic and Slavko Jerkovic. In 2003, Seselj was stripped of his right to use the phone after he participated in a SRS news conference held in Serbia, ahead of the parliamentary elections that year.

Hague: No interfering in Serbian politics

"The court is not engaged in appraisals of whether Šešelj's conversations influence the political events in Serbia," the tribunal officials explained.

They also confirmed that, just as other detainees, Šešelj can watch Serbia's state broadcaster RTS, but would not comment on whether or not he followed live broadcasts of Serbian parliament's sessions last week, to then instruct his SRS lawmakers by phone.

Šešelj, the leader of the Serb Radical Party (SRS, is undergoing trial on war crimes charges. His deputy, Tomislav Nikolić, on Friday resigned, apparently after a disagreement with the party boss over the ratification of the SAA. Parliament is currently debating this agreement.

Earlier, media in Serbia speculated that the curses and insults hurled from the parliamentary rostrum last week at President Boris Tadić, but also "at any Radical that cooperates with him", came as a result of a strategy agreed on with Šešelj, on the phone from The Hague.

The Hague detention unit in Scheveningen rules state that detainees can use the phone each day 09:00-17:00 local time, according to "reasonable necessities of the detention unit's daily schedule", and the money they have at their disposal, considering that the calls are not free of charge.

The calls are placed under the prison authorities' surveillance and can be interrupted.

Considering that Šešelj is conducting his own defense, he has the right to so-called privileged communication with his legal team members, which is not supervised and remains confidential.

The members of the team are SRS officials Aleksandar Vučić, Zoran Krasić and Slavko Jerković.

In 2003, Šešelj was stripped of his right to use the phone after he participated in a SRS news conference held in Serbia, ahead of the parliamentary elections that year.