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Serb nationalist ends hunger strike
Vojislav Seselj agrees to take food again as he awaits trial for alleged war crimes.
Last Modified: 08 Dec 2006 17:16 GMT
Seselj has called on his party to never renounce the concept of a greater Serbia

Vojislav Seselj, a Serbian war crimes suspect, has ended a month-long hunger strike after winning back the right to defend himself before the UN tribunal.
 
The International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia said that Seselj will begin taking food and medicine again, adding that his trial would resume when he was fit enough.
"Vojislav Seselj has informed the Tribunal that he will resume taking foodstuffs and receive medical attention, ending his refusal since November 11 to do so," a statement said.
 
Seselj, 52, gave himself up to the ICTY in February 2003.

"The trial of Seselj is suspended until such time as he is fit enough to fully participate in the proceedings as a self-represented accused," the ICTY said.

 

Seselj’s demands

 

The Serbian nationalist insisted on representing himself at the court, as did the late Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic.

 

In addition to appealing the decision to appoint a lawyer against his will, Seselj demanded the removal of the tribunal's three judges whom he accuses of bias.

 

Seselj faces charges of having formed a joint criminal enterprise together with Milosevic in 1991-1993 aimed at driving non-Serbs from parts of Croatia, Bosnia and northern Serbia to create an "ethnically pure" Greater Serbia.

 

During his hunger strike, Seselj only accepted water and refused food as well as medicine for a number of health complications.

 

The UN tribunal said that it had ordered him to be force-fed if necessary after doctors who examined him said he could die from a heart attack within days, or starvation within two weeks.

Source:
Agencies
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