SRS leader Seselj sets Croatian flag on fire

SRS leader Seselj sets Croatian flag on fire

"I am sending a message to the Croatian Ustasha state," Seselj said as he set the flag on fire in front of reporters - and several hundred supporters who cheered him on.

The Higher Public Prosecution announced immediately that they had launched criminal proceedings against him for burning the flag.

Seselj commented on this by saying:

"I was glad to hear the news. That's another sign that Aleksandar Vucic is losing his head, that he doesn't know what he's doing. All of this will come back to bite him. I'm happy to have set on fire the Croatian Ustasha flag, and I can't wait for that trial to start."

Asked why he decided to burn the flag, Seselj said:

"Because Croatia occupied the Republic of Serb Krajina, committed genocide against Serbs in the Second World War, and drove hundreds of thousands of Serbs out."

The SRS leader and other party officials and supporters gathered at the Palace of Justice ahead of the resumption of the trial of deputy SRS leader Nemanja Sarovic, who has been accused for setting the flags of "NATO, the EU, Kosovo, and the Unites States" on fire during a protest rally in November 2012.

But the prosecution in the meanwhile dropped the charges related to the burning of the EU, NATO, and Kosovo flags, because setting those on fire is not a criminal act.

Sarovic pleaded not guilty today and described the trial as "political," because he was being prosecuted for expressing his political stance.

He stated that a U.S. flag had been set on fire and that he was "proud of what was done" - but asked for video footage to be reviewed "in order to determine who did it."

Seselj was due to testify in that trial and revealed that he would tell the court that the order to set those flags on fire came from him, and that party officials had to act on it.

The SRS president also addressed those gathered in front of the Palace of Justice today. Reporters saw "very strong police forces" deployed at the site. Speaking about the Hague Tribunal's decision to order him back in prison, Seselj said he on Wednesday received the document in Serbian, and repeated that while he voluntarily turned himself in after the Hague indicted him in 2003, this time he would not go of his own accord.

Asked to comment on Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic's remark that he would not be arrested "forcibly" Seselj asked, "what other kind of arrest is there."

He announced he would not cooperate and would offer passive resistance, while those sent to detain him would have to "carry him out in their heroic arms."

According to Seselj, the regime is now tormented not knowing how to arrest him if he refuses to go voluntarily - but, he added, "I want them to be tormented."

"Vucic may cry a crocodile tear, he may make faces... but in the end he will carry out his orders, and all of that will come back to bite them," Seselj concluded.

Seselj, who is ill with cancer, was granted temporary release by the Hague Trial Chamber last November, after spending more than 11 years in detention without a verdict. He is indicted for war crimes committed in Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Serbian province of Vojvodina, in the early 1990s.

On Monday, the Netherlands-based UN court's Appeals Chamber ordered the Trial Chamber to revoke its decision and have Seselj returned to the detention unit.