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U.N. investigates Serb hardliner September 16, 2002 Posted: 1658 GMT AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (Reuters) -- United Nations prosecutors say they are investigating hardline Serbian right-winger Vojislav Seselj on suspicion of war crimes, as speculation mounts he is close to being indicted. Seselj, leader of the ultra-nationalist Radical Party, is favoured as the next president of Serbia by Slobodan Milosevic, the former Yugoslav leader on trial at the Hague tribunal charged with war crimes in the Balkans in the 1990s. In indictments against Milosevic, Seselj is named as being one of several participants along with the ex-president in a "joint criminal enterprise" to expel non-Serbs from swathes of Bosnia and Croatia. "As a member of the joint criminal enterprise, it's fair to assume he (Seselj) would be under investigation," U.N. deputy prosecutor Graham Blewitt told Reuters. "All of the persons named in the joint criminal enterprise are under investigation," he added. Seselj's name appears in the Bosnia and Croatia indictments against Milosevic. A Croatian newspaper said Sunday that U.N. prosecutors were preparing an indictment against Seselj. "Vojislav Seselj, as President of the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) from at least February 1991 throughout the time relevant to this indictment, recruited or otherwise provided substantial assistance or support to Serb volunteers ... who perpetrated crimes as specified in this indictment," reads the Croatia indictment against Milosevic filed in October 2001. "He openly espoused and encouraged creation of a 'Greater Serbia' by violence and other unlawful means, and actively participated in war propaganda and spreading inter-ethnic hatred," says the indictment, which names 15 political leaders, police and army officials from former Yugoslavia as co-conspirators with Milosevic in "ethnic cleansing" in Croatia. Seselj said last October that he "could not wait" to travel to The Hague as soon as he got a visa, to show he did not fear the U.N. International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia. He said he would not surrender voluntarily but was ready to put himself "at the mercy of the tribunal" by coming to The Hague. He later said he had been denied a visa. Those allegedly involved in the masterplan to ethnically cleanse Bosnia include the tribunal's most wanted men -- Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic and his military commander Ratko Mladic. Some others named, such as former Bosnian Serb leaders Momcilo Krajisnik and Biljana Plavsic, have been indicted separately and are awaiting trial. Croatian daily Novi List, citing unofficial sources close to the Yugoslav and Serbian authorities, reported Sunday that Hague prosecutors were preparing an indictment against Seselj. Asked to comment on the Novi List story, Seselj party official and Serbian parliament deputy Gordana Pop-Lazic said: "I haven't seen it, but would not be surprised if that happened. The tribunal is doing its job. Mr Seselj has not been avoiding it. Let them provide evidence for what they charge him with." Copyright 2002 Reuters. All rights reserved. --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bacIlu Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
