Former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic on Thursday asked judges presiding over his war crimes trial at the United Nations court here to order British Prime Minister Tony Blair, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and former United States president Bill Clinton to testify in his defence case.
”Please issue an order that they have to appear as witnesses here… Clinton has to appear here, Schröder has to appear here, Blair too and many others,” he told judges.
Milosevic, who is acting as his own defence lawyer, is charged with over 60 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity over his alleged central role in the wars in Croatia (1991-95), Bosnia (1992-95) and Kosovo (1998-99).
He faces a separate genocide charge over the bloody war in Bosnia that left over 200 000 people dead.
Milosevic has been on trial since February 2002 but on Thursday was the first time in almost three months that he appeared in court.
The mammoth trial was suspended for several months to allow the Yugoslav ex-president to prepare his defence case which is scheduled to start in July.
Thursday’s hearing was called by the judges to discuss procedural issues relating to the management of the defence case.
Milosevic took the opportunity to ask the court to issue orders for several high profile names on his 1 631-strong witness wish list to testify.
Presiding judge Patrick Robinson told the former Yugoslav leader that he would have to submit his request for a subpoena of those witnesses in writing together with the reasons to order these politicians to testify.
A feisty Milosevic, clad in his trademark blue suit and red tie, said he refused to submit written requests to a tribunal he considered to be ”false” and ”illegal”.
”As for the reasons why Clinton should testify, they are quite clear… He gave the order [to bomb Yugoslavia],” he said referring to the NATO airstrikes against Yugoslavia in 1999 during the Kosovo conflict.
Milosevic, whose ill health has caused the start of his defence case to be delayed twice, appeared in fighting form on Thursday as he blasted the prosecution for spreading ”flagrant lies” and suggested the judges had been ordered to prevent him ”from presenting the truth” in court.
The judges rejected requests by the former Serbian strongman for more time to prepare his defence and more time to present it.
They stood by their order that Milosevic start his case on July 5 and that he has 150 court days allotted for his defence.
Although Robinson stressed that the judges would not impose a limit on the number of witnesses Milosevic would be allowed to summon, the judge reminded him he would have to do so within the days allowed him.
Calling all 1 631 witnesses on Milosevic’s list would mean over 10 different testimonies per trial day. The prosecution typically handled one or two witnesses in a day.
Already the Milosevic trial has dragged on for nearly two and a half years and is expected to last well into 2005. A verdict is expected by the end of that year or in 2006. Milosevic faces a life sentence if convicted.
Robinson, who took over as presiding judge from British magistrate Richard May after he stepped down due to ill health in May, on Thursday laid down the ground rules for Milosevic during the defence case.
”[Milosevic] is not to ask leading questions, he should not give evidence himself or make speeches,” he said.
On Wednesday, Milosevic suffered a setback as the judges rejected a motion by lawyers, appointed by the court to ensure a fair trial, to drop the genocide charge because of insufficient evidence. — Sapa-AFP