On 11 February 2009, Trial Chamber III at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) decided to suspend the trial of Vojislav Šešelj, after the prosecution filed a motion for suspension of the trial on 15 January 2009. It claims that the integrity of the proceedings would be compromised if the Chamber were to hear further testimony after some witnesses had allegedly been subject to a campaign of intimidation.

The section of the decision relating to the length of this suspension had been redacted, but it appears from the dissenting opinion of presiding Judge Antonetti that it will be for the time to complete the proceedings for contempt currently engaged against Vojislav Šešelj.

According to the Trial Chamber’s decision suspending the case, examination of the remaining witnesses “would not be in the interests of justice” owing to a campaign of intimidation visited upon them. Judges Harhoff and Lattanzi ruled that the witnesses could thus not be guaranteed freedom of evidence, and safety.

In his dissent Judge Antonetti pointed out that the Prosecution only has seven remaining hours at its disposal to present its last witnesses. In the absence of any indication on how long the proceedings for contempt may last, suspending the proceedings at this stage is simply “time mismanagement”, he says. The presiding Judge additionally recalls that the accused has now been in custody for nearly six years, with the Prosecution case not even being completed.

The decision comes less than one month after Šešelj became the first suspect on trial for war crimes to be charged with contempt at the ICTY following the publication of a book by the accused detailing extensive information about the proceedings, including information about protected witnesses.

Vojislav Šešelj’s trial began in November 2007 with the accused charged with eight counts of crimes against humanity and six counts of violations of the laws or customs of war. Šešelj, still leader of the ultra-nationalist Serb Radical Party is considered one of the most important figures to be tried by the ICTY, along with Slobodan Milošević and Radovan Karadžić.

Vojislav Šešelj