The Hague court announced that Serbia is not responding to its questions regarding progress in the transferred process against the leader of the Serbian Radical Party, Vojislav Šešelj, who is accused of contempt of that court.
This is written in the May report by Dagmara Albrecht, who was appointed by the Hague court to monitor and observe the proceedings after the process against Šešelj was transferred to the judiciary of Serbia in February 2024.
In her regular report to the President of the Hague court, Graciela Gatti Santana, Albrecht wrote at the end of May that she had “sent numerous emails to the Ministry of Justice of Serbia,” requesting information on the preliminary steps in the proceedings against Šešelj, the necessity of which was pointed out to her in the autumn of last year by Serbian prosecutors and officials of that ministry.
Albrecht specified that this information was promised to her during a meeting in Belgrade in November 2025 by the “assistant minister from the sector for international relations and strategic planning.”
“To this day, I have not received any response to those emails,” the Hague court official emphasized, noting that she had requested a response from the Ministry of Justice again at the end of April.
According to the report, Albrecht also requested the War Crimes Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade, at the end of April this year, to state whether it is still waiting for the “preliminary opinion” of the Ministry of Justice regarding the process against Šešelj.
“I also requested information on whether the War Crimes Prosecutor’s Office currently intends to take further action regarding the transferred case. On May 18, I requested that information again,” Albrecht wrote, suggesting that she did not receive the answers.
In the conclusion of the report, Albrecht indicated that “according to available information, the case against Šešelj and others is still waiting for the preliminary opinion of the Ministry of Justice.”
She also emphasized that she intends to visit Belgrade and speak with judicial officials, if they are available.
Albrecht last met with officials of the Ministry of Justice and prosecutors in Belgrade in November 2025.
As she later reported to the court in The Hague, she was informed at the War Crimes Prosecutor’s Office on November 18 of last year that, in accordance with the law, they had requested a “preliminary opinion” from the Ministry of Justice on whether the trial of Šešelj could be a process for a political offense and whether it could “disrupt the sovereignty, security, and public order” in Serbia.
The Prosecutor’s Office, as it claimed, sent that request to the Ministry of Justice on February 10, 2025.
Prosecutors in Belgrade also told Albrecht last autumn that they could continue working on the Šešelj case only if the opinion of the Ministry of Justice is positive that Šešelj will not be tried for a political offense and that it will not endanger the sovereignty, security, and public order in Serbia.
“A negative opinion of the Ministry of Justice would prevent further work (of prosecutors) on this case,” Albrecht conveyed the stance of the War Crimes Prosecutor’s Office.
The next day, November 19 of last year, however, the aforementioned assistant minister of justice claimed to Albrecht that the ministry had not received the request from the War Crimes Prosecutor’s Office to express its stance on the two stated preconditions.
The same official also said that, according to the Law on Cooperation with the Hague Tribunal, the Higher Court in Belgrade, prior to the opinion of the Ministry of Justice, must determine whether a series of other preconditions for the trial of Šešelj have been met.
If the court determines that those preconditions have not been met, the Ministry of Justice, according to that official’s interpretation, does not have to give the opinion requested by the War Crimes Prosecutor’s Office, the Hague court official wrote.
In November of last year, Albrecht was also received by the unnamed President of the War Crimes Department of the Higher Court in Belgrade, who told her that he had not received any information regarding the Šešelj case from the Ministry of Justice, nor from the War Crimes Prosecutor’s Office.
In addition to Šešelj, SRS officials Miljan Damjanović, Miroljub Ignjatović, Ljiljana Mihajlović, and Ognjen Mihajlović are also accused of contempt of the Hague court.
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The indictment charges them with “deliberate obstruction of the administration of justice, disclosing confidential information about protected witnesses,” as well as for “failing to comply with court orders to stop publishing confidential materials.”
According to prosecutors, the accused published and spread confidential data through Šešelj’s books, but also via internet pages.
The Hague court raised the indictment against Šešelj and the four Radicals on August 11, 2023.
In submissions to the court in The Hague, before the decision to transfer the process to Serbia was made, all the accused promised that they would “appear before the relevant domestic authorities when called upon.”
If the Serbian judiciary fails to conduct the proceedings against Šešelj and the co-accused, the court in The Hague has the right to take over the process again, and Serbia is obligated to hand the accused over to that court.
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Source: N1; Photo: ATA Images