Milosevic Trial May be Split

Judges trying Slobodan Milosevic this week said they were ready to consider cutting off one or two of the three indictments against him, suggesting a new a sense of urgency over the case.

The move, announced on July 21, is an attempt to speed up the long-running, high-profile trial, which analysts believe is fast getting out of hand.

The prosecution wrapped up its case in February for the Kosovo, Bosnian and Croatian conflicts. Now the judges seem to be hoping that they would get a verdict quicker if the defence part of the trial – scheduled to begin after the summer recess - starts off with just one or two of the indictments.

Then once a verdict is reached, the defence part of the remaining indictment/s may be heard.

The judges have given the prosecution and Milosevic - who is conducting his own defence - until July 27 to submit written responses to their move.

It’s the latest in a series of dramatic moves that have followed the announcement by the panel of judges earlier this month that a radical review of the trial was needed.

But the decision still came as a surprise for the majority of tribunal watchers, who were focusing on suggestions that the judges wished to impose a lawyer on the defendant.

On July 19, judges set a clear deadline - October 2005 - for finishing the defence part of the Milosevic trial. This has been calculated on the basis of the 150 days given to Milosevic to present his defence and the court's plan to sit for three days a week without any other recess beyond the tribunal's own holidays.

In addition to setting a deadline, the judges requested the prosecutors’ opinion about what kind of role a possible defence counsel might play in the trial, should Milosevic refuse to cooperate with him. This is a very likely possibility, as in his last public appearance before the court on July 5, the defendant explicitly stated he would not accept any lawyer imposed on him.

On July 21, the judges said their “resolve and determination” to finish the trial by October 2005 had prompted them to consider “the possibility of severing one or more indictments”.

The judges presiding over the Milosevic case have long argued that it would be best to conduct two separate trials - the first dealing with the Kosovo charges and the second with those for Croatia and Bosnia.

But two and a half years ago the prosecutors managed to convince the tribunal’s appeals chamber that joining the trials and indictments into one would bring about both better understanding of Milosevic’s alleged crimes and significant savings in time and money.

The judges have sound legal grounds for their latest move: in their decision to let the trial proceed on all three indictments simultaneously, the appeals chamber gave judges the right to separate the charges, “if it becomes apparent … that the trial has developed in such a way as to become unmanageable”.

Many observers consider that the court’s decision to ask for the parties’ opinions on severance is an acknowledgment that the trial as it stands now has become unmanageable.

The defence part of the case, scheduled to begin a month ago, has been repeatedly postponed due to Milosevic’s poor health. The former Yugoslav president is suffering from bouts of high blood pressure, which have also resulted in damage to his heart.

A report by his regular cardiologist, made public in the court at the last session, stated that Milosevic’s health would worsen every time he is exposed to stress. The doctor suggested that although the blood pressure would eventually drop to levels allowing Milosevic to conduct his defence, it was bound to rise again once the trial started again.

The picture emerging from the report was one of a seemingly endless trial, which would be regularly interrupted by defendant’s declining health and a diminishing capacity to prepare his defence. The judges have since asked for three more reports on Milosevic’s health.

“The judges are recognising the situation we’re in - that the defendant suffers from genuine medical problems,” a tribunal source said. The source suggested that the judges feared these problems, coupled with Milosevic’s will to continue representing himself, could be “endangering the fair and expeditious conduct of the trial”.

The judges’ latest move shows they’re worried that, even with the presence of a professional defence lawyer on the case, the increasingly sick Milosevic may not be able to wrap up his defence in the foreseeable future.

And what everybody here is careful not to mention is that such a protracted and theatrical trial would also play into Milosevic’s hands, depicting him in the eyes of Serbian public exactly the way he would like to go down in history - as a martyr to the cause of nationalism.

The judges will have to carefully consider which if any of the indictments are cut.

The general impression is that the prosecution had presented the strongest case in the part of the trial dealing with the events during the war in Kosovo in 1999, but it is the Bosnia indictment that carries the most serious charge of all - genocide.

A decision to postpone Milosevic's defence of the Bosnia indictment would undoubtedly result in outrage in the former Yugoslav republic that suffered the most during the years of war.

So the judges are treading carefully, exploring all the options available to them before making far-reaching changes to the trial.

But with the mounting criticism of the proceedings as a farce in which the former Yugoslav leader is given far too much leeway - and with the tribunal’s closure deadline approaching - the pressure to end the Milosevic trial as efficiently as possible is almost palpable.

Tribunal insiders insist that the real issue is to “balance fairness and efficiency”, but point out that “the judges are absolutely determined to have this trial finished”.

Ana Uzelac is IWPR's project manager in The Hague.

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