In front of Šešelj's house: Danger! House of a war criminal!

(Patria) - Activists of the Youth Initiative for Human Rights in Serbia have recently placed street signs with the inscription "Danger! House of a war criminal!" in front of the headquarters of the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) and at the same time the house of its leader, war criminal Vojislav Šešelj, in the Srem village of Hrtkovci.

The reason, as they announced, is a new indictment for contempt of the Hague Tribunal against Šešelj and four other SRS members. With this action, the young activists wanted to point out that this candidate for a member of the Serbian Parliament in the upcoming December elections is a convicted war criminal.

His party will run independently in the extraordinary general elections on December 17, but at the local level, it will form a coalition with the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), which was founded and led by Aleksandar Vučić until recently.

The Youth Initiative for Human Rights emphasizes that they are not surprised by the SNS-SRS coalition, "given the earlier statements of SNS representatives, such as Aleksandar Martinović, Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, who on July 4 in the National Assembly of Serbia denied that Šešelj was convicted of war crimes and stated at the time that 'no Croat was expelled from Hrtkovci'."

The latest annual report of the European Commission on Serbia's progress towards the EU "emphasizes that a large number of media and political parties continue to support war criminals in Serbia" and warns of "their presence in public space where they spread hate speech unhindered".

On the other hand, political persecution and pressure directed at those who protest against the glorification of war criminals and the denial of crimes do not subside, the Initiative points out. In addition, a new report by the Council of Europe warns that during the 2022 election campaign in Serbia, the denial of war crimes has become a strategy for politicians to stay in power, Hina reports.

"With the pre-election coalition with the SRS for local elections, the ruling SNS is normalizing the campaign of intimidation and crimes against humanity against the Croatian population in Hrtkovci in an unprecedented way. We also remind you that the previous arrest and extradition warrants from the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Courts for Vjerica Radeta and Petar Jojić, also members of the SRS, have not yet been executed," concludes the statement of the Initiative for Human Rights in Serbia.

In 2018, Šešelj was sentenced to ten years in prison by the Hague Tribunal for inciting persecution, deportation, and forced displacement and resettlement of Croats in the village of Hrtkovci in 1992. He was in custody in Scheveningen from 2003 and was released in November 2014 due to his deteriorating health.

On Thursday, it was announced that a new Hague indictment has been filed against Šešelj and four other party officials - Miljan Damjanović, Ljiljana and Ognjen Mihajlović, and Miroljub Ignjatović. The reason is the publication of a book and other printed material, as well as video and audio material, which expose prosecution witnesses against Vojislav Šešelj in his main case.

Despite the verdict, Šešelj was a member of the Serbian parliament from 2016 to 2020, and is now once again the holder of the SRS electoral list in the elections to be held on December 17.