Slobodan Milosevic underwent medical tests yesterday after his genocide trial was suspended for the second time this month, fuelling concern that his health may not allow proceedings to continue.
There was palpable frustration as, for the fifth time, Milosevic cancelled his appearance before the international criminal tribunal in the Hague on grounds of ill-health.
The presiding judge, Richard May, conveyed a doctor’s report that Milosevic was feeling tired and suffering from high blood pressure. This led the prosecutor, Geoffrey Nice, to request more detailed reports on Milosevic’s health from medical specialists. ”We are simply having to put the timetable back all the time” said Nice.
Judge May ordered a new report on ”when can he resume trial and a prognosis of his future fitness”. If necessary the 61-year-old will be re-examined by the heart specialists who determined in the summer that he was suffering from ”severe cardiovascular risk”.
Officials said that Milosevic felt unwell when he woke up in his cell at the UN detention unit in nearby Scheveningen, where the duty nurse found he was suffering from high blood pressure.
On Monday, when he returned to court after a 10-day break, he had looked tired and pale as he sat in the dock.
Legal experts insist that the tribunal has a duty to ensure that any defendant, including its most high-profile one, is well enough to stand trial.
Judge May warned last June that the man at the centre of the world’s biggest international war crimes trial since Nuremberg would require ”careful future monitoring”.
Supporters of Milosevic demanded his release on health grounds on Monday after the defendant had asked for a break. The request is also contained in a submission by the amici curiae, three international lawyers appointed by the court to look after the defendant’s interests because he has repeatedly refused to be represented by counsel.
Milosevic promised he would ”not run away” if freed from custody. He said he needed a break to review the evidence, which he said was ”overwhelming”.
But he rejected as ”absurd and evil-minded” a prosecution suggestion that he be required to appoint lawyers.
Carla Del Ponte, the chief UN prosecutor, complained that his decision to keep defending himself was delaying the trial.
”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,” she wrote.
Milosevic’s health problems have already held up proceedings by several months since he was brought to the Hague in June 2001.
Earlier this month Judge May and his two colleagues asked both sides to submit proposals on how to speed up the trial, which is already likely to stretch into 2004.
When asked if there was any chance of reducing the scale of the indictments against Milosevic, Nice said the indictment, covering crimes Milosevic allegedly committed in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo during the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s had already reached ”the irreducible minimum”.
The former president could face life imprisonment if convicted of any of the 66 counts of war crimes he is facing.
The first phase of the trial, focusing on Serb atrocities in Kosovo in 1999, ended in September. The court is now hearing evidence about the 1991-95 conflicts in Croatia and Bosnia. The Bosnia indictment includes genocide, the gravest of all war crimes.
Prosecutors have been asked to conclude their case by next May, when Milosevic is expected to launch his defence. – Guardian Unlimited (c) Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001