Milosevic clashes with judge as first witness called
Slobodan Milosevic’s court-appointed lawyers called the first witness in his defence case today, even though the former Yugoslav president refused to meet with them.
Milosevic, who faces 66 charges of war crimes stemming from the Balkan wars in the 1990s, argued with the judges in The Hague who stripped him of his right to defend himself.
The first defence witness, Milosevic’s former law professor Smilja Avramov, testified about her years as the Yugoslav Foreign Ministry’s legal adviser before the wars that tore Yugoslavia apart, and about Serbs’ perception of the nationalist threats against them.
Before the witness was called, newly-appointed lawyer Steven Kay told the court that Milosevic had refused to see him and his associate yesterday evening and this morning. His only contact, he said, was “indirect, through the registrar” of the court.
Judges appointed the defence lawyers against Milosevic’s will last Thursday, citing potential further delays in proceedings due to the former president’s heart trouble. Milosevic rejects the court’s jurisdiction and has said he will appeal against the decision.
Presiding Judge Patrick Robinson refused Kay’s request to let Milosevic question Avramov himself, prompting an angry outburst from Milosevic, who denounced his court-appointed defence as “a legal fiction”.
But Robinson cut him off, saying: “I don’t want to hear the same tired refrain.”
Avramov, a retired Serbian international law professor and ultra-nationalist, wrote in the mid-1990s that the UN Security Council had no legal authority to try Milosevic.
She told the court that Milosevic “was an excellent student. He displayed a great degree of interest, particularly in international economic law.”
The trial, which began in February 2002, has been set back by at least six months because of Milosevic’s high blood pressure. He has nonetheless insisted on preparing his own defence and spent months researching and interviewing witnesses from his UN detention cell.
He spent around five hours presenting his opening statement last week, a moment his legal aides said he had waited for since being transferred from Belgrade to detention in the Netherlands in 2001.
Judges had been wary of appearing to infringe on Milosevic’s right to defend himself, for fear of giving ammunition to opponents of the tribunal who call the proceedings a show trial.
Prosecutors had asked the court from the beginning to impose a lawyer on Milosevic, fearing he would use court time to address his followers back home in Serbia.
The judges finally were swayed by reports from two cardiologists warning that the defendant’s life would be at risk if he continued representing himself in court. His legal aides insist he is fit enough to do the job.
Attorneys Kay and Gillian Higgins, until now monitors or “friends of the court” overseeing the fairness of the proceedings, face a tough task without their client’s co-operation. It is also unclear if the witnesses Milosevic had intended to call will still be willing to testify.
Throughout the trial, the two defence lawyers have argued that Milosevic should be allowed to defend himself, even to the detriment of his health. Ironically, they may now have to file an appeal on Milosevic’s behalf against their appointment.
