The UN war crimes tribunal said on Tuesday it will consider next week splitting the case of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic into separate trials, as proceedings were again delayed by his ill health.
UN judges ordered Milosevic and prosecutors to prepare arguments on whether the court should issue a separate verdict on the 1998-1999 Kosovo war and later deal with charges related to the earlier wars in Croatia and Bosnia. A hearing will be held on Tuesday.
Both the prosecution and members of Milosevic's legal team said they would oppose breaking up the case at this stage.
Dragging on
Such a ruling could speed up the landmark trial that has dragged on for nearly four years and would likely secure a verdict in at least one of the three indictments against the former Serbian leader.
Zdenko Tomanovic, the legal adviser for Milosevic's, said in Belgrade that splitting the case would be "a huge blow for the defense."
He said that the defense planned to question several witnesses, including senior foreign officials, who can testify about all the charges, and to call them near the end of the joint trial.
"Those are key witnesses for the whole case, and not only for Kosovo, Bosnia and Croatia," Tomanovic said. "I can only hope that there will be no splitting of the case."
In Kosovo, Milosevic is charged with five counts for the murders of at least 900 Kosovo Albanians, 800,000 deportations and sexual assault by Serbian forces. Kosovo is considered by legal experts to be the strongest case against Milosevic because he was president when the crimes took place in the Albanian-dominated Serbian province.
Milosevic, who is defending himself, is due to finish presenting his case in March -- barring further delays due to several ailments including a chronic heart condition.
So far, he has used nearly 75 percent of the 360 courtroom hours allotted to him -- the same amount as used to present the prosecution's case -- and has spent nearly all of it discussing Kosovo.
Too ill
The trial was canceled this week because Milosevic complained that he felt too ill to question his witnesses. The three judges ordered another round of medical tests, and will consider the doctors' report at Tuesday's hearing, a court statement said.
The trial has been interrupted 18 times since it opened on Feb. 12, 2002, amounting to several months of delays.
Milosevic was initially charged in three separate indictments, but the cases for Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo were merged into one in 2002 in an effort to streamline the proceedings. The court will now consider reversing that decision, apparently with the intention of at least finishing one case as early as possible.
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