Worn-out and bald nationalist like Šešelj must be adequately punished by the appellate ruling

The Social Democratic Party of BiH is appalled by the acquittal of the first instance verdict for the Chetnik duke Vojislav Šešelj. This is just another addition to the thesis that war crimes in these areas go unpunished.

The decision of the Hague Tribunal Chamber is an insult to all victims of the criminal campaigns of Šešelj's volunteers from Croatia to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

With such decisions by the Hague Court, the question arises whether the Tribunal has fulfilled its purpose, as in a large number of verdicts for those accused of war crimes, it has accommodated them, reducing their foreseen sentences or releasing them earlier, while the victims of the crimes have been completely forgotten.

Such verdicts will certainly not lead to reconciliation among the peoples in these areas, especially in parts of the countries that have survived terrible crimes, which were also committed by members of Šešelj's criminal movement, the White Eagles.

Hope remains that the Prosecution's appeal will lead to an appellate ruling that a worn-out and bald nationalist like Šešelj truly deserves, and that with that ruling, the Hague Tribunal will wash away at least some of the stain from itself.

It would be extremely dangerous to send a message to future generations that Šešelj's rhetoric is a legitimate form of boosting morale during the war.