Šešelj given three days to respond to conditions

Šešelj given three days to respond to conditions

The Tribunal also wants Šešelj to be under house arrest throughout the period of his provisional release, hand in his passport to the Serbian authorities, maintain no contact with victims or witnesses and make no attempt to influence them in any way.

Under one of the conditions, Šešelj must not obstruct the procedure or the course of justice, and may discuss his case only with members of his legal team.

The Tribunal demands that Šešelj strictly comply with all demands of the Serbian authorities in order to enable them to meet the obligations stipulated by the decision on provisional release.

The Tribunal also wants Šešelj to be returned to The Hague on a date set by the trial chamber, and strictly comply with all orders from the chamber that alter the conditions of his provisional release or terminate it.

The explanation of the order said that, on June 24, the chamber called on the Serbian and Dutch governments to comment on guarantees for Šešelj's possible provisional release, after which the Serbian government expressed readiness on July 2 to offer such guarantees in case Šešelj formally binds himself to comply with certain conditions.

Šešelj voluntarily surrendered himself to the ICTY on February 23, 2003. He pleaded not guilty to all counts in an indictment charging him with crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war in Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Vojvodina between 1991 and 1993.

He has since been held in the UN detention unit in Scheveningen, outside The Hague, and the case, which commenced on November 7, 2007, is still at trial.

The prosecution completed the presentation of its evidence on January 13, 2010 and the accused, who is representing himself, did not want to make any defence arguments.

Šešelj has been in detention for 11 and a half years, but no verdict on the charges has been handed down, despite the trial ending in March 2012.