Serbian ultra-nationalist Vojislav Seselj has asked the Hague war crimes tribunal to allow him to appeal the 10-year sentence he got for persecuting ethnic Croats in the village of Hrtkovci in 1992.

Seselj, leader of the ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party (SRS), wrote in his request to the UN Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals that the sentence, passed on appeal following a ruling to free him of all charges, represents “an unimaginable situation” and a “precedent in international criminal law practice”.  

He said that the Appeals Panel could only confirm the earlier ruling or order a re-trial, adding that the right to appeal is universal and cannot be abolished.  

Under the rules of the Mechanism, sentences passed by the Appeals Council cannot be appealed following an appeals procedure after the initial ruling. Mechanism President Theodore Meron, who chaired the panel of judges which sentenced Seselj, will decide on Seselj’s request.