First Initial Appearance - Šešelj (Part 4/4) - 26 February 2003

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) confirms that Vojislav Seselj was transferred to the Detention Unit on Monday 24 February 2003. An initial appearance hearing is being scheduled to enable the accused to enter a plea on the charges laid against him. The date of the hearing will be announced in due course. Vojislav Seselj was indicted on 14 February 2003 on eight counts of crimes against humanity and six counts of violations of the laws or customs of war for his alleged participation in a joint criminal enterprise. According to the indictment, the purpose of this alleged joint criminal enterprise was the permanent forcible removal, through the commission of crimes in violation of Articles 3 and 5 of the Statute of the Tribunal, of a majority of the Croat, Muslim and other non-Serb populations from approximately one-third of the territory of Croatia, large parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and from parts of Vojvodina, in the Republic of Serbia, in order to make these areas part of a new Serb-dominated state. The alleged joint criminal enterprise came into existence before 1 August 1991 and continued until at least December 1995. Seselj allegedly participated in it until September 1993 when he had a conflict with Slobodan Milosevic.