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Serb suspect punished for no-show | |
(about 2 hours later) | |
Serbian nationalist leader Vojislav Seselj has lost the right to conduct his own defence after boycotting the start of his war crimes trial. | |
The leader of the Serbian Radical Party, the biggest party in Serbia's parliament, refused to attend the start of the trial in The Hague. | |
He has been on hunger strike for two weeks and is said to be getting weaker. | He has been on hunger strike for two weeks and is said to be getting weaker. |
Mr Seselj is accused of plotting the ethnic cleansing of former Yugoslavia during the wars of the early 1990s. | |
He is also accused of forming a joint criminal enterprise with former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, which led to the extermination and deportation of non-Serbs from Bosnia and Croatia. | |
Visit demand | Visit demand |
It had been half-expected that Mr Seselj would not attend the first day of his trial, after he began a hunger strike in his cell two weeks ago, and refused to attend a pre-trial hearing last week. | It had been half-expected that Mr Seselj would not attend the first day of his trial, after he began a hunger strike in his cell two weeks ago, and refused to attend a pre-trial hearing last week. |
He has been demanding the right to choose his own stand-by defence lawyer, and unrestricted visits from his wife. | |
He was warned by the court that failing to appear for the trial could mean he would surrender the right to self-defence. | |
"He persists in not taking food... he persists in being absent," presiding Judge Alphons Orie said at the opening of proceedings on Monday. | |
"The court finds that the accused's self-representation has essentially obstructed the proper and expeditious proceedings," he said, appointing a British lawyer to take over Mr Seselj's defence. | |
Proceedings have often been delayed because of what the court describes as his disruptive behaviour. | |
This has presented a real problem for the judges, who have to balance the defendant's right to a fair trial with the interests of justice, the BBC's Geraldine Coughlan in The Hague says. |