The 67-year-old, who has been defending himself, denied the charges and claimed he did not know what was taking place on the ground.

A row erupted after the first round of voting on May 6, when pro-Tomislav Nikolic nationalists accused Boris Tadic’s supporters of falsifying 500,000 votes, although electoral officials and foreign monitors declared the vote to have been fair.

European Union leaders granted Serbia candidate status after objections from Romania were withdrawn, reported the BBC. A draft of conclusions from the EU summit in Brussels said EU leaders "granted candidate status to Serbia," after Belgrade implemented a series of democratic reforms and captured suspects wanted for war crimes, according to the BBC. Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic were arrested last year.