on Republic Square, Šešelj surrendered to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on the indictment of "eight counts of crimes against humanity and six counts of violations of the laws or customs of war for his alleged participation in a joint criminal enterprise". He was transferred to the ICTY the following day. In 2005, Šešelj made headlines when he was asked to read a letter which he earlier sent to the ICTY that stated his contempt for the court. The letter was read in front of cameras by Šešelj and contained insults and expletives aimed at the top ICTY officials and judges. In his letter, Šešelj said the presiding judge has only "the right" (mocking the Hague's judges) to perform oral sex on him, and referred to Carla Del Ponte as "the prostitute". In custody, he wrote Kriminalac i ratni zločinac Havijer Solana (Felon and War Criminal Javier Solana), a criticism of the NATO Secretary General (and the current High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union and the Western European Union) who led the 1999 war in Kosovo. On 2 December 2006, around 40,000 people marched in the Serbian capital of Belgrade in support of Šešelj during his 28-day hunger strike in The Hague after the ICTY denied him the right to choose his own defence counsel. Speaking at the rally, Radical Party secretary Aleksandar Vučić said "He's not fighting just for his life. But he's fighting for all of us who are gathered here. Vojislav Šešelj is fighting for Serbia!" Šešelj ended the hunger strike on 8 December after being allowed to present his own defence. While in custody in The Hague, Šešelj led his party's list of contenders for the January 2007 general election. Under the ICTY indictment, Šešelj was charged with 15 counts of crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war. The first of these charges is for persecution of Croats, Muslims and other non-Serbs in Vukovar, Šamac, Zvornik and Vojvodina. The other charges include murder, forced deportation, illegal imprisonment, torture and property destruction during the Yugoslav wars. Šešelj's aide, Ljubiša Petković, was found guilty by the ICTY's Trial Chamber III of contempt for refusing to appear as a Chamber's witness in Šešelj's trial. Petković was released on 26 September from the ICTY Detention Unit. He had