Milosevic trial adjourned for six weeks

UN judges adjourned Slobodan Milosevic’s trial for six weeks to give him more rest, but refused to consider the former Yugoslav president’s request to go to Moscow for treatment.

President Judge Patrick Robinson said the adjournment until January 23 was in response to Milosevic’s earlier request for a lengthy break, even though the trial would have been suspended anyway for a three-week winter recess.

Milosevic, who suffers chronic heart ailments and high blood pressure, is defending himself against 66 counts of war crimes in Kosovo, Bosnia and Croatia during the 1990s.

He has complained that the strain of preparing witnesses and questioning them in court prevented his condition from stabilising, resulting in severe headaches and a buzzing in his ears.

As his hearing opened today, Milosevic surprised the judges with a new request: To go to Moscow to follow up on the examination by three of his own doctors who saw him at the tribunal’s detention centre last month.

He told the judges he would return before the winter recess is over. “This wouldn’t even affect your schedule,” Milosevic argued.

“This is an application for provisional release,” Robinson said – a request the court has repeatedly denied.

“I can’t believe you’re even making it,” he said.

Robinson said that for the request to leave prison to even be considered, Milosevic must make it in writing, with guarantees for his safety, supervision, and return. He then ordered the next witness to be called.

Milosevic has been detained in the court’s maximum security detention centre since he was extradited from Serbia in June 2001. His trial has been running since early 2002, slowed by his frequent bouts of illness.

The three judges were expected to rule later this week on a proposal to split Milosevic’s case into two separate trials to speed up at least part of the case and make up for the long delays.

The judges suggested separating the indictment on the 1998-99 Kosovo war from those on Croatia and Bosnia. Both Milosevic and the prosecutors opposed the idea, though for different reasons.

So far, Milosevic has used around 75% of the 360 courtroom hours allotted to him to present his defence – the same amount as prosecutors used to put their case against him. Nearly all of it has focused on Kosovo.