Milosevic seeks to prove UN court is illegal

Slobodan Milosevic’s lawyers today asked a Dutch judge to rule that the UN wear crimes court is illegal and to free the former Yugoslav president who is awaiting trial for alleged atrocities in Kosovo.

Government lawyers argued before a district court judge that the UN tribunal has immunity from Dutch law under the Netherlands’ host agreement with the United Nations, and that the court has no jurisdiction.

Judge Roel Paris said he would give his decision on August 31.

Calling the tribunal a ‘‘puppet court’’ of the Nato alliance, Milosevic’s legal team said the detention of the ousted Yugoslav leader was part of an ‘‘anti-Serb witch hunt’’ and a violation of human rights. They asked for his immediate release.

Milosevic remained in the UN detention unit in Scheveningen and was not in The Hague court.

His lawyers argued that the court has jurisdiction over the tribunal since it is located in the Netherlands and is not exempt from Dutch law.

‘‘The Dutch state has a right to ensure that human rights are upheld on its territory,’’ Nico Steijnen told the judge. ‘‘It has the right and the duty to judge the flagrant abuses of fundamental human rights.’’

In his counter argument, state attorney Bert-Jang Houtzagers cited a judgment by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg that the war crimes tribunal was impartial and independent.

‘‘This court has no authority to rule over issues of tribunal,’’ he told the judge, asking for an immediate dismissal.

Milosevic, who has spent seven weeks in the Netherlands, said at his arraignment last month he does not recognise the tribunal as a legal body. He contends it is illegitimate because it was established by the UN Security Council, not the General Assembly.