Milosevic Given 150 Days For His Defence; Trial to Resume July 5

The Trial Chamber in the case of Slobodan Milosevic is undertaking perhaps its most difficult challenge to date: managing the defence of an Accused who does not recognize the legitimacy of the Tribunal yet has declared his intent to use the opportunity provided as a forum to address the public about his view of Yugoslav politics and history over the last decade. The Court will be called upon to keep a tight rein on Milosevic, as it did at today's pre-defence conference, repeatedly interrupting the Accused's attempts to politicize the proceedings.

The pre-defence conference is meant to assist the Court with its overall trial management responsibilities, setting the number of defence witnesses, the time allowed and attending to other administrative matters that will facilitate the fair and expeditious presentation of the defence case. At today's hearing, Judge Patrick Robinson, assuming the duties of Chief Judge following Judge Richard May's resignation, gave the Court's decisions, following submissions by the parties and the Amicus.

The Accused will have 150 days to present his defence, a decision which Milosevic sharply protested. The Prosecution, he argued, had nearly 300 days. The Court, however, calculated that Milosevic's cross examination took the majority of that time. Without such lengthy cross examination which will not be allowed the Prosecution, equal time amounts to 150 days.

Milosevic also protested the Court's ruling that his trial will resume July 5, a little over two weeks from today. The Accused told the judges that illness and doctor's orders deprived him of substantial preparation time during the past four months, since the Prosecution rested its case. After hearing considerable argument on the issue, the Court, while sticking to the July 5 timetable, ordered the Registrar to provide information about days the Accused was ill or prevented from working on his defence. Judge Robinson explained somewhat cryptically, 'When the Chamber gets information, the Chamber will then be in a good position to determine how to approach any difficulty in how you will present your case. The Chamber may be inclined to show some flexibility if you experience difficulty. It depends on the information from the Registrar.'

The Court also considered the number of witnesses Milosevic will be allowed to call. In response to the Accused's declared intention to call 1,631 witnesses, the Court declined to impose a limit on the number it will permit. Instead, it emphasized that 150 days have been allocated for the defence case. While the Prosecution called almost 300 witnesses during its case in chief, it abbreviated direct examination for many, submitting more complete testimony in writing. Milosevic informed the Court that all his witnesses would testify in public and he would not avail himself of time-saving procedures designed for background and cumulative evidence. At one point, the Accused proclaimed that tens of thousands of people want to testify in his behalf, making his task of whittling down the witness list more difficult. The Court has the right to refuse to hear witnesses if their testimonies would be irrelevant or overly repetitious of evidence already given. At this point, however, it is up to Milosevic to do some serious paring.

The Prosecution protested that the Accused had not provided enough information on witnesses' proposed testimony to allow the Court to decide whether their testimony would be repetitious, irrelevant or not. Amicus Steven Kay argued that more detailed summaries of what witnesses would testify to would disclose the Accused's case to the Prosecution. Lead Prosecutor Geoffrey Nice responded that other chambers have held it is a proper function of witness summaries that they provide enough information to assist the prosecution in preparing cross examination. Rather than decide on a middle ground, providing more than topical information but less than a detailed summary, the Court declined to order Milosevic to produce additional information about his intended witnesses at this time. In other words, the onus remains with him to reduce his witness list appropriately in the first instance.

Though no list of intended witnesses has been made public, Milosevic mentioned a number of high profile witnesses in court: Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Hans Dietrich Genscher, Gerhardt Schroeder and Wesley Clark (who testified for the Prosecution). He asked the Court to subpoena those he expects will be 'hostile' witnesses. Judge Robinson, for the Court, told him he must put that request in writing, as well as his request that Britain, the U.S., France and Germany be required to turn over certain intelligence documents. Milosevic objected, 'You said I'd be obliged to send you written motions. I have no intention of doing that. I don't recognize this Tribunal.' The Court reiterated that he must present written motions or the Court will take no action.

Judge Robinson noted that Milosevic had not included his own name on the witness list and directed him to inform the Trial Chamber if he intends to testify, when and for how long.

The Prosecution also requested the Court to order the Accused to provide reports of expert witnesses sufficiently in advance of their testimony (six to eight weeks), so the Prosecution may seek review from its own experts, many of whom are not available in-house. Milosevic indicated he intended to call several experts at the beginning of his case, set for a little more than two weeks from today. In the end, the Court ordered that he provide reports for the first two witnesses, which are ready and have been translated into English, 15 days in advance of their planned appearance.

Other rulings by the Court included: denial of Milosevic's request for provisional release so that he might prepare his defence; denial of the Prosecution's request that the Court revisit the issue of imposing counsel on the Accused; granting the Accused four hours instead of two for his opening statement (Milosevic requested 3 days, but the Court reminded him he had already taken two days at the beginning of the trial); the Accused will be expected to provide translated copies of all documents he wishes to use in court, which have not already been exhibited; he has seven days to provide the Prosecution with a list of exhibits he plans to introduce and seven days to provide a list of the first 50 witnesses and the order in which he will call them.

Given Milosevic's view of his case as a defence of Yugoslavia, Serbia and himself from lies brought against them by 'those' who made war on Yugoslavia throughout a decade, the Trial Chamber will be challenged to bring the defence case within the confines of a trial of one man for his individual criminal responsibility. With somewhat surprising firmness, Judge Robinson today made a good start.