After a coalition with Vučić, Šešelj is once again on trial for war crimes at the International Criminal Court in The Hague

The International Criminal Court for War Crimes has brought new charges against the Serbian fascist politician Vojislav Šešelj. The charges against him have not yet been made public, while the Serbian media have stated that the case relates to crimes committed by Serbian paramilitaries during the wars in the former Yugoslavia.

Šešelj is considered an ultra-nationalist who played a leading role in the massacres in Croatia and Bosnia in the 1990s, when he also held the post of deputy prime minister in the Serbian government.

In 2003, he was tried in The Hague for war crimes and sentenced to ten years in prison, but was later released due to his serious health condition.

The news comes after Šešelj decided to work with Aleksandar Vučić’s ruling party to run for office together in Belgrade.

The leader of the Serbian Radical Party (SRS), Vojislav Šešelj, said that the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) will participate in local elections in Belgrade and in Serbian cities and municipalities in coalition with the currently ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) of Aleksandar Vučić.

“I spoke with (Serbian President) Aleksandar Vučić, (Prime Minister) Ana Brnabić and (Chairman of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) Board) Darko Glisic and we agreed that the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) will form a coalition with the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) for the Belgrade elections and the city.” Local elections in the inland of Serbia. Our representatives will be on the lists of candidates and we will participate in the executive branch,” Šešelj told the pro-government Happy TV.

This connection between Šešelj and Vučić has been described as harmful to Belgrade.

Srdjan Milivojevic, MP for the Democratic Party, said that Vojislav Šešelj is an important candidate for the ruling party in the local elections scheduled for December 17, which shows what Belgrade can expect if the Serbian Progressive Party wins these elections.

Whenever Šešelj and Vučić were in power, we lived in fear and uncertainty, isolated and at odds with the world. Every time Šešelj and Vucic made decisions, mothers cried, black scarves and bloody shirts were left behind. “Every time the radicals have ruled, Serbia has taken a step backwards,” Djilas emphasized, concluding that Vučić is only right about one thing: “These are crucial elections, because citizens are choosing between the united radicals and the normality they have stolen from us, they are choosing between their ugly past and our future,” said the former mayor of Belgrade, Dragan Djilas.

Sarajevo-born Šešelj was convicted of incitement to war crimes by the Hague Tribunal after spending ten years in Scheveningen prison. He was held responsible for the forced expulsion of ethnic Croats from the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina in the early 1990s. Šešelj also organized volunteers for paramilitaries who committed war crimes in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia. Šešelj has a doctorate in law and served time in prison as a nationalist dissident in socialist Yugoslavia. He is one of the founders of the ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party. /The Geopost