The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)
confirms that Vojislav Seselj was transferred to the Detention Unit on
Monday 24 February 2003.
An initial appearance hearing is being scheduled to enable the accused
to enter a plea on the charges laid against him. The date of the
hearing will be announced in due course.
Vojislav Seselj was indicted on 14 February 2003 on eight counts of
crimes against humanity and six counts of violations of the laws or
customs of war for his alleged participation in a joint criminal
enterprise. According to the indictment, the purpose of this alleged
joint criminal enterprise was the permanent forcible removal, through
the commission of crimes in violation of Articles 3 and 5 of the
Statute of the Tribunal, of a majority of the Croat, Muslim and other
non-Serb populations from approximately one-third of the territory of
Croatia, large parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and from parts of
Vojvodina, in the Republic of Serbia, in order to make these areas
part of a new Serb-dominated state. The alleged joint criminal
enterprise came into existence before 1 August 1991 and continued
until at least December 1995. Seselj allegedly participated in it
until September 1993 when he had a conflict with Slobodan Milosevic.
