An appeals hearing for radical Serb nationalist Vojislav Seselj following his unexpected acquittal over alleged war crimes will take place on December 13, officials said Wednesday, amid uncertainty over whether he will appear.
Prosecutors appealed a majority ruling by judges at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) last year which found Seselj not guilty on nine charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the 1990s Balkans wars.
"The hearing of the appeal in the present case shall take place on Wednesday, December 13, 2017 in The Hague," the tribunal said.
The court has unusually set aside just one day for the hearing, as Seselj has vehemently said he will not return from Serbia for the hearing.
In March 2016 judges acquitted Seselj saying the prosecution had failed to prove "there was a widespread and systematic attack against the non-Serb civilian population in large areas of Croatia and Bosnia Hercegovina".
But the ruling triggered outrage among legal experts and historians who accused the judges of overturning international law and rewriting the history of the Balkans conflict.
Prosecutors alleged in the initial trial that Seselj, the firebrand leader of the Serbian Radical Party, was behind the murders of many Croats, Muslims and other non-Serb civilians as well as the forced deportation of "tens of thousands" from large areas of the Balkans.
In his appeal, veteran chief prosecutor Serge Brammertz said the judges had shown "a sweeping disregard" for the crimes which had taken place during the conflict, and there had been "a fundamental failure" by the judges to perform their "judicial function".
Seselj, 63, has insisted he "will never return to The Hague tribunal voluntarily".