Milan Antonijevic, president of the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, said in a statement today that the acquittal of Vojislav Seselj was unexpected, but that it demonstrates that the Tribunal is not a political court.
“This verdict was unexpected, but when you take into consideration that the trial lasted 13 years, we somehow got to the point at which we can expect just about anything from the Hague Tribunal. On the other hand, the indictment should be read and we should see what the prosecution failed to prove during the trial. In summary the general conclusion is that the Hague Tribunal is not a political court, seeing how it passed this verdict”, says Antonijevic in a statement for Tanjug.
He added that appeals to this verdict are expected, as well as verdict in the second degree, and that a clear explanation of why the trial lasted as long as it did who was responsible for that is also needed.
“The right to a trial within a reasonable time has been violated. No trial can last that many years, as we have been saying all along”, Seselj says.
Antonijevic said that the citizens of Serbia have also “suffered” this trial for 13 years that was, from time to time, quite distressing, and great number of victims took the stand, which should not be overlooked.
“Even this case demonstrates that there will be much more politicizing then there will be actual discussion about Serbia’s involvement in the war during the 90’s, the fact that many people perished on all sides and that there won’t be much accountability for any of it”, says Antonijevic.
He added that the discontent which can be seen in the region regarding Seselj’s acquittal has also been visible in case of acquittals for the crimes against Serbs in B&H and Croatia.
Antonijevic believes that Seselj will probably try to take advantage of this acquittal in some way.
