Seselj asked to declare himself on prosecution's request

Seselj asked to declare himself on prosecution's request

The deadline will expire three days after Seselj receives this document, and he can respond to the prosecution's demand "if he wishes to do so."

The Appeals Chamber on March 30 ordered the first instance Trial Chamber in the case to "immediately" revoke its ruling granting Seselj provisional release, "because he violated one of the two basic conditions for the release when he stated he would not return voluntarily."

But the Trial Chamber of Judge Jean-Claude Antonetti did not act on the Appeals Chamber's order, and instead on April 10 asked the medical team treating Seselj in Serbia to submit documentation about the current state of his health

As the Tribunal's secretariat announced, Seselj refused to submit these documents to the court. Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz last week sent an urgent demand to the Appeals Chamber to immediately once again order the Trial Chamber to order Seselj to return.

With Thursday's move, the Appeals Chamber gave Seselj a chance to declare himself on that demand.

The leader of the Serb Radical Party (SRS) is charged with war crimes against Croats and Muslims in Croatia and Bosnia, and in the Serbian province of Vojvodina in the period between 1991 and 1993. As he is ill with cancer, the Trial Chamber last November granted him provisional release, after he had spent more than 11 years in the court's custody without a verdict.

Seselj voluntarily turned himself to the Hague Tribunal in early 2003 while his trial opened in 2007. A verdict was to be delivered in October 2013, but this was postponed when a judge was exempted.