THE HAGUE: Defiant Serb hardliner Vojislav Seselj pleaded not guilty to all charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity against him before the UN court in The Hague yesterday.
The ultra-nationalist politician showed his flair for controversy at the start of yesterday's hearing when he refused to get up for the presiding judge and demanded the presence of all three judges of the trial chamber assigned to the case to see this "most important part of the trial".
German judge Wolfgang Schomburg, unimpressed by Seselj's demands, calmly replied that only one judge needed to be present according to tribunal procedure, and immediately moved on to the reading of the charges.
"Not guilty," said Seselj to all 14 of the charges read out to him. Chief war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte also attended the hearing.
Seselj, a political ally of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic who is also on trial in The Hague, is accused of crimes including persecution, extermination, murder and torture committed in Bosnia, Croatia and the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina during the 1990s Balkans wars. Seselj voluntarily surrendered to the UN court on February 24th.
At his initial court appearance, Seselj refused to enter a plea, claiming he did not understand several words in the indictment.
The words he objected to were in the Croatian dialect. In theory Serbs and Croats speak the same language, but some words are different.
Yesterday he again demanded that the court's interpreters should speak "standard Serbian".
"In my conclusion there is not the slightest doubt that this is a language you understand," Judge Schomburg replied curtly.
The hardline leader of the Belgrade-based Serbian Radical Party repeated that, like Milosevic, he wanted to defend himself in court.
"I have never in my life met a better attorney than myself," said Seselj, who is a trained lawyer.
He rejected the prosecution's demand that he appoint a defence council. The anti-Western politician's deep suspicion of the UN court was shown again when Seselj refused the court's suggestion that he use a laptop computer to type his motions, which he is now submitting in handwritten documents.
"I am afraid I will receive an electrical shock," he said.