Serbia refuses to extradite two MPs wanted by UN court

BELGRADE: Serbia will challenge a UN court request to extradite two ultra-nationalist MPs accused of witness tampering during trials against radical Vojislav Seselj, a minister said Friday.

Vjerica Radeta, 63, and Petar Jojic, 80, were Seselj´s defense lawyers and their case has dragged on for more than four years, with Serbia refusing to arrest and extradite them. The pair was first charged in December 2014 with “having threatened, intimidated, offered bribes to, or otherwise interfered with two witnesses” in two cases involving Seselj.

After failed efforts to bring them to the Hague, in June 2018, the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT) referred their case to Serbia for its national courts to deal with. But earlier this month the court revoked the referral. It ordered Serbia to send the pair to The Hague “without delay” and issued fresh international arrest warrants for them. “The witnesses are not willing to disclose their personal information to Serbian authorities for fear of their life,” a judge said in a written order.