Seselj has been refusing to appear in court since last week, saying he is feeling too weak because of the hunger strike he started on November 10. At a pre-trial hearing held on Monday just before the trial commenced, the trial chamber decided to reactivate its decision to impose a stand-by defence counsel on the accused, saying that Seselj's behaviour represented significant obstruction of court proceedings.
This case is about Serb leaders who insisted that their vision of a greater Serbia should prevail regardless of the price, prosecutor Hildegard Uertz Retzlaff said, adding that the price that was paid included the severe suffering of Croats, Muslims and other non-Serbs.
According to the indictment, crimes were committed as part of a joint criminal enterprise the purpose of which was to drive out the non-Serb population and annex a third of Croatia and a large part of Bosnia and Herzegovina to form a greater Serbia. Seselj, the late Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic, and fugitive Bosnian Serb wartime leaders Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic were also involved in the joint criminal enterprise.
The idea of a greater Serbia, with its planned western borders running along the Virovitica-Karlovac-Karlobag line in Croatia, was publicly advocated by Seselj himself, the prosecutor said, adding that with his extreme rhetoric Seselj mobilised and incited to the expulsion of the non-Serb populations not only armed volunteer units that were subordinated to him and his party, but other Serb forces as well.
Seselj allegedly participated in forming Serb volunteer units and incited them to commit crimes in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Seselj recruited and led a Serb paramilitary group that was involved in the slaughter of over 250 patients from the Vukovar hospital in November 1991. He is also charged with spreading hatred through his speeches.
Later on Monday, the trial chamber expressed regret over Seselj's refusal to take food and medicines, thus putting his health at risk. Presiding judge Aphons Orie said that Seselj had started a hunger strike in order to ensure that his demands were met.
The trial was set to continue on Tuesday.