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Serbia Urged to Ban Seselj Rally at 1992 Crime Scene

April 19, 201815:21
Opposition parties called for a ban on a rally that Serbian Radical Party leader Vojislav Seselj plans in the village of Hrtkovci, where he made nationalist speeches in 1992 that got him convicted of war crimes.

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Seselj with Radical Party MPs in the Serbian parliament. Photo: Teodora Ciric/Beta.

The Democratic Party and the League of Vojvodina Social Democrats urged the authorities to prevent the rally that Vojislav Seselj is planning in Hrtkovci on May 6, the anniversary of his inflammatory anti-Croat speech in the same village in 1992 that led to his conviction by the UN war crimes court in The Hague.

Democratic Party MP Balsa Bozovic said in a statement that the party will be forced to “protect” the people who Seselj is “threatening with violence and persecution” by holding the event in Hrtkovci in Serbia’s northern Vojvodina region.

“Him announcing a new rally in Hrtkovci… is a consequence of his behaviour being ignored for days, although on several occasions, institutions were obliged to react,” Bozovic said.

Incidents involving the Radicals have increased in recent days after NGOs and opposition politicians started pointing out that Seselj’s recent war crimes sentence legally disqualifies him from serving as an MP.

On Wednesday Seselj caused a delegation led by Croatian parliament speaker Gordan Jandrokovic abruptly ended its visit to Belgrade after he insulted them and stood on the Croatian flag.

The League of Vojvodina Social Democrats, LSV, said that the planned rally in Hrtkovci was proof that Seselj and his party intend to “continue the persecution and intimidation of non-Serb citizens and political opponents”.

“If institutions continue to ignore Seselj and his accomplices, the LSV, which 26 years ago acted as bodyguard for its neighbours against those same Radicals, is willing to do it again,” said LSV president Nenad Canak in a press release.

Seselj told media in Serbian parliament that the police have no grounds to ban the rally in Hrtkovci and that the gathering will take place.

“The rally has been scheduled, we will have a security detail and it will be a peaceful political gathering… Just like the gathering in 1992 was, when there were no incidents,” Seselj said, according to Beta news agency.

The Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals on April 11 sentenced Seselj in absentia to ten years in prison for inciting crimes with nationalist speeches in the Vojvodina region of Serbia during the war in 1992.

His speeches calling for the expulsion of Croats from Hrtkovci were followed by violence against Croat civilians.

Read more:

Seselj Conviction Leaves War Victims Dissatisfied

Seselj Verdict: A Compromised Court Compromises

Why is Serbia’s President Silent about Seselj’s Conviction?

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