ICTY prosecution wants decision to release Seselj's annulled

THE HAGUE - The prosecution of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Monday requested that the decision to grant indictee Vojislav Seselj provisional release be annulled and said that his conduct following his return to Serbia has been undermining the grounds of the decision to release him.

The prosecution also wants a hearing to be scheduled urgently upon Seselj's return to the ICTY to assess his health condition and conditions for future releases and establish whether he is ready to abide by those conditions.

In deciding to grant Seselj provisional release on November 6, the Trial Chamber acted strictly on humanitarian grounds, citing confidential information which indicated that the indictee's health condition had worsened, the filing said.

With that in mind, the Trial Chamber believed that only the minimum conditions should be set for a provisional release - primarily, that there be no witness or victim tampering, that Seselj should not disrupt the judicial proceedings and that he should appear before the Trial Chamber when ordered.

The prosecution said that the Trial Chamber's confidence regarding Seselj's conduct was groundless as he has said explicitly that he will not return to the ICTY, threatening those who are cooperating with the prosecution and clearly indicating that his health condition is no obstacle to making unacceptable, incendiary public statements that are an insult to the victims.

In these circumstances, the Trial Chamber should revoke the decision to release Seselj's and order him to return to The Hague, the prosecution said in the filing.

This should be done not only to ensure the integrity of the proceedings before the ICTY, but also a fair...