Šešelj returns to Serbia, addresses supporters

Šešelj returns to Serbia, addresses supporters

BELGRADE -- Vojislav Šešelj has returned to Serbia after spending eleven and a half years in detention at the Hague Tribunal in the Netherlands.

His plane touched down at Belgrade's Nikola Tesla International shortly before 13:00 CET, where family members, his party officials and activists all gathered to welcome him.

A brass band and his supporters chanting, "Vojo, Serb," and lighting flares were waiting outside the airport building.

Although it was announced Šešelj would address reporters, this did not happen and he instead immediately left the airport and headed for the Serb Radical Party (SRS) party headquarters in Zemun.

There he addressed his supporters from a balcony.

"The Hague threw me out of the dungeon in a brutal manner. I did not ask for it, nor did they set any conditions. They just wanted to get rid of me as soon as possible. I promised I would tear the Hague Tribunal apart. The struggle lasted somewhat longer, but one doesn't look a gift victory in the mouth," he said.

The SRS leader then noted that he was told at the Hague his freedom was temporary, and added that "this temporary leave will last until he overthrows Tomislav Nikolić and Aleksandar Vučić."

Nikolić and Vučić formed the Serb Progressive Party (SNS) as an offshoot of the SRS in 2008, amid political acrimony.

Šešelj today described them as politicians who renounced the ideology of Serb nationalism, becoming instead "servants of western powers." He said the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague was "a wounded globalist beast that destroys the lives of Serb political and military leaders."

Ahead of his arrival, his supporters gathered at the...