Serbian Radical Party (SRS) Leader Vojislav Seselj has been operated on in a hospital outside the Hague Tribunal as the defibrillator that he had had implanted at the beginning of January had a malfunction, the SRS said in a release Saturday.

The device had its electrodes replaced and was implanted back into Seselj's body yesterday, and doctors say that the device is now working well, the SRS said.

The party said that the SRS president was still feeling ill, and was noticing no improvements.

But despite the fact, it had been announced that Seselj would be returned to the detention unit of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) during the day, says the release.

The Radicals believe that this is outrageous, considering Seselj's experience after the previous surgery, when he had to be transferred to the hospital every day because his condition rapidly worsened, according to the release.

The ICTY confirmed that Seselj was transferred from the detention unit to hospital and that his closing arguments, scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, had to be cancelled.

Seselj is on trial for alleged war crimes committed in the territory of Croatia, Vojvodina and Bosnia in the period from 1991 to 1993.

ICTY Spokeswoman Nerma Jelacic reoterated today that SRS leader and ICTY indictee Vojilslav Seselj had been transferred from the detention unit to the hospital, adding that she could not give any details about his health as she had not been given permission by the accused to do so.