(8 Nov 2007)
1. Various exterior shots of headquarters of Serbian Radical Party
2. SOUNDBITE: (Serbian) Aleksandar Vucic, Vice President of Serbian Radical Party:
"We, as the Serbian Radical Party, think that the public in Serbia and all over the world can see how meaningless the conviction is against Vojislav Seselj. The way the prosecution introduced the accusation, the argument was like that so the public was entertained in a way, because they are accusing Vojislav Seselj of the words he is using, his speeches, and they have not found any "cause-effect" relation with any crime, wherever that crime was committed. Today, Vojislav Seselj, in a very serious and responsible way, firstly denied that he was in any way responsible for crimes committed and at the same time said that people who committed crimes are the ones responsible for starting the war, stating that his speeches never and in any way caused anything bad, especially committing crimes. We think his speech was very persuasive and we are completely sure that not only supporters of the Serbian Radical Party think that but also the majority people in Serbia and even the people all over the world."
3. SOUNDBITE: (Serbian) Vox pop, woman - name not given:
"I think he will be released."
4. SOUNDBITE: (Serbian) Vox pop, man - name not given:
"I think he is in prison without any reason. I think that justice will prevail."
5. SOUNDBITE: (Serbian) Vox pop, woman - name not given:
"I prefer this was not happening, so the world does not need to watch all this."
6. SOUNDBITE: (Serbian) Vox pop, man - name not given:
"It is very clear that this is a political process and that all this is ridiculous, and all this will turn into a circus and that is a tragic thing."
7. Mid shot of newspaper front pages
8. Close-up of newspaper headline, reading: (Serbian) "Seselj's three conditions."
9. Close-up of newspaper headline, reading: (Serbian) "Seselj responsible for mass murders in Bosnia and Herzegovina"
STORYLINE:
The United Nations trial of Serb nationalist Vojislav Seselj was described on Thursday as "meaningless" by the vice president of Seselj's Serbian Radical Party.
Seselj is being tried by the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal, in The Hague on charges he used nationalist hate speeches to whip up fear and loathing among his supporters and sending paramilitaries to front lines in Croatia and Bosnia to commit atrocities.
Aleksandar Vucic, the vice president of the so-called Radicals, told AP Television on Thursday that his party thinks "the public in Serbia and all over the world can see how meaningless the conviction is against Vojislav Seselj".
"They are accusing Vojislav Seselj of the words he is using, his speeches, and they have not found any "cause-effect" relation with any crime, wherever that crime was committed," said Vucic.
Seselj on Thursday denounced the UN tribunal trying him for alleged war crimes as illegal and anti-Serb.
In a dramatic flourish to a four-hour opening defence statement, Seselj compared himself to Iraq's Saddam Hussein and said he regretted the tribunal has no death penalty because he would like to die for his beliefs.
Seselj is defending himself at the trial.
Vucic said he thought Seselj's "speech was very persuasive and we are completely sure that not only supporters of the Serbian Radical Party think that but also the majority people in Serbia and even the people all over the world".
The court is scheduled to close in 2010.
AP Television spoke to some of Belgrade's residents and received mixed opinions about the tribunal.
Find out more about AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
Twitter: [ Ссылка ]
Facebook: [ Ссылка ]
Instagram: [ Ссылка ]
You can license this story through AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
