Head of the Serbian national council for cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Rasim Ljajic has confirmed that he wrote to the ICTY about the possibility of providing guarantees for Serbian Radical Party leader Vojislav Seselj's temporary release.

The ICTY could not verify if the letter had arrived, and spokesperson Nerma Jelacic stressed the ICTY rules state that Seselj would first have to submit a written request for a temporary release.

Ljajic told Tanjug he had addressed the letter to judge Jean-Claude Antonetti, who presides over Seselj's trial, stating that Serbia was willing to consider a request for guarantees for Seselj's temporary release if the ICTY wished it.

Seselj has not formally requested the guarantees from the government, Ljajic noted. "However, he did ask the ICTY during his closing argument to grant him temporary release," Ljajic added.

Based on that request, stated before the trial chamber, and the fact Seselj is in poor health, Ljajic decided to contact the presiding judge.

"I said we were willing to consider that request, and we are now waiting for an answer," he remarked.

Jelacic could not confirm if Antonetti had received the letter in which the Serbian authorities indicated the possibility of providing guarantees for Seselj's release.

She told Tanjug she could not confirm it because the government usually sent such correspondence through private channels, and not as public documents.

The government sends guarantees if the accused requests a temporary release, which Seselj has not yet done in compliance with the ICTY regulations, she explained.

During his closing argument last week, Seselj requested a temporary release, but the trial chamber denied it on Friday, Jelacic pointed out.

According to her, the indictee should file a written request for a temporary release, and the trial chamber, in its deliberations regarding the request, will seek guarantees from the country the accused is going to stay in during the release.

She stated she had no information that Seselj was going to repeat his request for a temporary release.

The ICTY raised the indictment against Seselj in 2003. He turned himself in on February 23 that same year and was extradited the next day, where his trial started in November 2007.

Seselj stands accused of war crimes in Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Serbian Autonomous Province of Vojvodina between 1991 and 1993.

The prosecutor, in his closing argument, requested a prison sentence of 28 years, while Seselj responded there was no legal basis for a guilty verdict and that his trial was politically motivated.