Judges excuse Serb from war crimes verdict, averting EU sanctions threat

Serbian nationalist leader Vojislav Seselj speaks during a news conference inside his Serbian Radical Party headquarters in Belgrade, April 2, 2015. REUTERS/Marko Djurica

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Judges averted a potential stand-off between the European Union and Serbia on Wednesday by excusing a war crimes suspect from returning to The Hague for his verdict because he needed medical treatment unavailable there.

The decision, overturning an earlier compulsory court summons for nationalist politician Vojislav Seselj, avoided the risk of a confrontation that could have led to EU sanctions on Serbia for failing to carry out the summons.