THE HAGUE, Netherlands, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- A U.N. war crimes tribunal sitting in The Hague, Netherlands, Friday rejected a request by a Serb Radical Party leader to end the proceedings against him.
In its ruling the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia said Vojislav Seselj, on trial for alleged war crimes during the Bosnian conflict, failed to prove his right to trial within a reasonable time period was violated.
Seselj, detained since 2003, is being tried on 14 counts of crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war for actions between 1991 and 1994 against non-Serb population from parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia.
"There is no predetermined threshold with regard to the time period beyond which a trial may be considered unfair on account of undue delay" under international and European jurisprudence, the tribunal said, referring to a 2010 decision.
It also said Seselj didn't provide concrete proof that the process was abused other than his trial is still ongoing, ruling that comparing his detention to others accused in other national and international jurisdictions wasn't relevant.
