Since the death of Slobodan Milosevic, ultranationalist leader Vojislav Seselj is without doubt the best-known accused standing before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). On 3 November, Seselj - the "scandal monger", as he called himself during his testimony in the Milosevic trial - became suddenly very polite in court. Although on 20 October the court authorized him to defend himself, the Appeals Chamber warned Seselj that "should his self-representation substantially obstruct the proper and expeditious proceedings in this case, the Trial Chamber will be justified in promptly assigning him counsel".
"A waste of time and energy", reacted some at the ICTY, who believed that Seselj would go back to causing a stir. Because of his contemptuous behavior, the Trial Chamber assigned British barrister David Hooper as "standby Counsel." Even before he arrived in The Hague on 24 February 2003, Seselj had written that former ICTY president Meron was a "genocidal Israeli diplomat," talked about "the jaws of the whore Carla del Ponte" (Chief Prosecutor) and the "lying Hague homosexual Geoffrey Nice" (Prosecutor in the Milosevic trial). Once he was imprisoned, he bombarded the Trial Chamber with submissions - about 200 to date - complaining about the robes of the judges which reminded him of the Catholic Inquisition, the Gestapo and the SS, and flatly refusing to use a computer or read any document not written in pure Serbian. Gradually his language became more raunchy. But the Trial Chamber became really worried when Seselj disclosed confidential information to his "legal team", which was not approved by the Registrar. According to the Chamber Seselj intimidated potential witnesses by warning them that "Milan Babic [repentant ICTY convict found dead in his cell after committing suicide in March 2006] was the first, but all prosecution witnesses will follow him down that path".

Already in May 2003 the judges decided to appoint a Dutch attorney as standby Counsel, but he never had any contact with Seselj. David Hooper was encouraged to take the case by long-time friend Steven Kay, who was assigned Counsel by the Tribunal in the Milosevic trial. Regarding his relationship with his client, Hooper told IJT that "In terms of trial preparation is has been completely negative until now... Generally speaking, some defendants may merit being protected from themselves. It's all a matter of degree. If there is real obstruction a point can be reached where the only choice is counsel or no counsel." Can a criminal law system handle an absolute unwilling defendant? Where does a fair trial end and the show trial begin? "The accused is normally an active if unwilling participant. An accused's failure to participate or his participation being dysfunctional, does not mean the trial is unfair or a 'show trial'. My last trial was at the ICTR and [my client] never attended his trial for genocide. He was acquitted. He would not have if he had not been represented. That was not an empty or 'show trial'", responded the Englishman, speaking about his defense of the former Rwandan Education Minister before the ICTR.

On 1 November, Seselj demanded the "removal of Hooper", waiving his fist and calling him a "spy", before he was removed from the courtroom. Steven Kay commented on the difference between the approach of Milosevic and Seselj. "Milosevic respected the system and the need for it to be organized as a trial - hence his acquiescence to our legal filings and his adoption of them; his adoption of our cross examination of witnesses; his secret sharing of information with us. In the end Milosevic conformed with the system to enable him to get his arguments across."
Perhaps Seselj will ultimately take Milosevic's lead. "Some think he is influenced by the elections to be held [in Serbia] in December. His party has a massive 34% of the vote at present,"says Hoover. That could explain why the self-proclaimed scandal monger tried to make the best of it last Friday, before he was escorted out of the courtroom.