Ailing Milosevic returns to war crimes trial

Slobodan Milosevic’s war crimes trial resumed today with the former Yugoslav president still leading his own defence, despite calls from UN prosecutors that a lawyer be imposed for the sake of his frail health.

Looking tired and pale, Milosevic continued cross-examining a witness who had testified last month, but his questioning lacked the vigour and aggressiveness he usually displays.

After a ten day unscheduled recess called to give Milosevic more rest, chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte submitted a written request to the court to appoint a defence lawyer for the reluctant defendant, saying Milosevic should be protected from himself.

“It cannot be right in principle for the scope of a criminal trial to be dictated by the fact that the accused elects to represent himself,” Del Ponte wrote to the three judge panel sitting in the Hague.

Del Ponte said there is no law “prohibiting the imposition of counsel on an accused who wants to represent himself.”

Milosevic, 61, who suffers heart problems and high blood pressure, failed to appear in court on November 1 complaining of fatigue. The former president spends hours preparing his case in his jail cell and personally cross-examining all witnesses.

His poor health already has delayed proceedings by several months since he was brought to The Hague in June 2001. The trial is likely to stretch into 2004.

After Milosevic completed his cross-examination today, the “friends of the court” – the legal advisers appointed to safeguard Milosevic’s interests without formally representing him – objected that his health was poor and that he should not have had to cross-examine the witness, Mustafa Candic, a former Yugoslav army intelligence agent.

Lawyer Branislav Tapuskovic also protested that Milosevic had not been seen by a doctor in three days.

Presiding judge Richard May said the issue of Milosevic’s health “will be dealt with in due course” and ordered the continuation of the cross-examination of a witness that was suspended.

The former Serb leader could be sentenced to up to life imprisonment if convicted on any of 66 counts of war crimes charges in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo.

In Belgrade, the Yugoslav Committee for Slobodan Milosevic, a support group, has denounced the health care the ex-president receives at UN detention centre as ”inadequate” and demanded Milosevic be released.

Milosevic’s brother, Borislav, said the former Serb leader urgently needs medical attention, and that he is not getting proper treatment in the Hague prison.