Serbian Chetnik Movement (, abbr. SÃÂP) was an unregistered political party in Serbia and later a paramilitary force in the Yugoslav Wars. The party was founded and led by Vojislav à  eà ¡elj, a former lecturer at the University of Sarajevo and member of Serbian Renewal Movement. Due to its open connections with World War II-era Chetniks, the party was not permitted to be registered and was barred from participating in the 1990 Serbian general election. à  eà ¡elj instead participated in the presidential election as an independent candidate, placing fifth. The party's ideology centered on ultranationalism and promotion of Greater Serbia.
After the elections, SÃÂP merged with the People's Radical Party to create the Serbian Radical Party, with à  eà ¡elj as its president. During the Yugoslav Wars, SRS appropriated SÃÂP as its paramilitary unit. It was active in the Eastern Slavonia front and Bosnian War, where it had committed crimes against Croat and Muslim civilians. At times, à  eà ¡elj both supported and condemned SÃÂP, although the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia concluded that à  eà ¡elj exercised authority over them. In April 1994, SRS announced the dissolution of SÃÂP.
Vojislav à  eà ¡elj was a member of the League of Communists of Bosnia and Herzegovina (SKBiH) and a lecturer at the University of Sarajevo in the early 1980s. In 1981, he was expelled from SKBiH for allegedly promoting "nationalist and anarcho-liberal ideas". Later, in 1984, he was jailed for authoring a manifesto calling for Yugoslavia's restructuring and the establishment of a Greater Serbian republic. He was condemned to four years in Zenica jail, but only spent 22 months. He gained significant attention in Belgrade, and following his release, he grew close to writer Vuk Draà ¡koviÃÂ. à  eà ¡elj founded the Serbian Freedom Movement in January 1990, however, it was short-lived. In March, it merged with Draà ¡koviÃÂ's faction of the Serbian National Renewal to create the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO). à  eà ¡elj and Draà ¡koviàwere, however, unable to cooperate, leading to à  eà ¡elj's departure from SPO in May.
à  eà ¡elj established the Serbian Chetnik Movement (SÃÂP) as a political party on 18 June 1990. However, the party was denied registration due to its open connections with World War II-era Chetniks. of the Liberal Party defected to SÃÂP shortly after its founding. On 25 June, Slobodan Miloà ¡eviÃÂ, the president of Serbia, proposed a referendum to proclaim a new constitution. In response, an opposition protest was organised outside the building of Radio Television Belgrade, where à  eà ¡elj gave a speech critical of the government. Opposition parties argued that the referendum should be postponed until after the first multiparty elections. The new constitution was accepted by voters, with a turnout of 78%. In September, SÃÂP organised a protest after being denied registration in the political party registry. Opposition parties later organised another protest, this time to present their demands for better election campaign conditions. At the end of the protest, à  eà ¡elj and his SÃÂP attempted to hijack the stage.
SÃÂP attempted to take part in the 1990 elections but was barred from it by authorities. During the election campaign, à  eà ¡elj was sentenced to prison for violating public order and peace. Following his release, he filed his candidacy in the presidential election. He ran as an independent candidate. Shortly thereafter, on 23 October, he was briefly imprisoned again for attempting to recruit volunteers for the Log Revolution in Croatia. His campaign was marked by criticism of the opposition parties, particularly SPO. He also promised to bring "20 of the biggest Serbian traitors" to trial, including dissident Milovan Djilas. Political scientist Robert Thomas wrote that à  eà ¡elj's prison sentences in October 1990 helped him achieve celebrity status in the elections. Ultimately, he finished fifth in the presidential election. In the second round of the parliamentary election, he declined to join the newly established United Opposition of Serbia coalition, instead personally endorsing Democratic Party candidates.
After the elections, the People's Radical Party (NRS) experienced internal conflict as a result of its failure to gain any representation in the National Assembly of Serbia. Tomislav NikoliÃÂ, the party's vice-president, proposed merging the party with SÃÂP to form a new political party. à  eà ¡elj, however, faced resistance inside SÃÂP, but with the help of Jovan GlamoÃÂanin, the merging proceeded. SÃÂP merged with NRS on 23 February 1991 to create the Serbian Radical Party (SRS), with à  eà ¡elj as its president.
After the creation of SRS, SÃÂP was appropriated as its paramilitary unit throughout the Yugoslav Wars, during which they committed killings of civilians. It has also been defined as a private army of SRS operating in the Republic of Serbian Krajina. Also known as the à  eà ¡eljevci (English: à  eà ¡elj's men), the paramilitary was active in the Eastern Slavonia front of Croatia in March 1991. It took part in the Battle of Borovo Selo, where they killed 12 Croatian policemen. Beginning in March 1992, SÃÂP was stationed in Zvornik, Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the purpose of ethnic cleansing the town. à  eà ¡elj there collaborated with the Serb Volunteer Guard (SDG) and White Eagles to raid homes and kill Muslims. In Bijeljina and Doboj, SÃÂP cooperated with SDG in armed conflicts. This campaign marked the beginning of the Bosnian War. Besides their cooperation with other paramilitaries, à  eà ¡eljevci were also friendly with the Yugoslav People's Army. In the Eastern Slavonia front and Bosnian War, the à  eà ¡eljevci committed crimes against Croats and Muslims, including murder, torture, robbery, and sexual assault.
The à  eà ¡eljevci had 30,000 volunteers. They were noted for wearing black fur hats with Serbian cockades, or military berets with a skull or the Serbian flag. They could have also been identified by their cross-shaped ammunition belts. At different times, à  eà ¡elj both supported and condemned the paramilitary unit. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) concluded that "à  eà ¡elj exercised ideological and moral authority over the à  eà ¡eljevci sent to the front by his politico-military organisation.
On 28 April 1994, SRS announced the dissolution of SÃÂP and the integration of its local chapters into SRS. In the announcement, à  eà ¡elj also disavowed SÃÂP as a paramilitary force.
SRS, the successor of SÃÂP, has promoted similar ideologies to SÃÂP, including Greater Serbian ideology and ultranationalism. The party advocated for the establishment of a Serbian state that would span up to the Karlobag-Karlovac-Virovitica line, which eventually became an equivalent term to Greater Serbia. At the founding assembly, à  eà ¡elj declared that "we are prepared, though, for a bloodbath should it be necessary, but only for the sake of the Serbian lands, territories and people". The party was also sympathetic towards Miloà ¡eviÃÂ's regime; in return, the party was positively received in pro-government media.
Due to his role in the Yugoslav Wars, à  eà ¡elj surrendered to ICTY in 2003. His trial started in 2007, but was suspended in 2009 and continued later in 2010. The trial ended in 2013 and à  eà ¡elj was granted a provisional release in 2014 due to his worsening health, after which he returned to Serbia. He then led SRS into the 2016 Serbian parliamentary election, in which the party won 8% of the popular vote.
SÃÂP published its political programme in the first edition of Velika Srbija newspaper in July 1990. During its existence as a political party, SÃÂP promoted ultranationalist rhetoric and supported the creation of Greater Serbia. According to University of Connecticut professor Predrag DojÃÂinoviÃÂ, its programme resembled those of the Nazi Party. Its political actions were often militant.
à  eà ¡elj was the president of SÃÂP during its entire existence. In the party's statute, the Central Homeland Administration was the highest body of the party while the Homeland Congress was not convened. Its secretary was Vojin VuletiÃÂ. The party also had youth and women's wings.