Former Yugoslav President's Trial Postponed

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, November 13, 2002

Former Yugoslav President's Trial Postponed

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The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia postponed the trial of SlobodanMilosevic on Tuesday because of his exhaustion, a day after he rejected demands he accept a defense lawyer to ease the burden of the trial on his health and speed up the legal process.

The presiding judge Richard May ordered a medical report on Milosevic's health to find out when he can resume trial. Chief UN prosecutor Carla Del Ponte said the court should appoint a defenselawyer for Milosevic. She said the former Yugoslav president's decision to keep representing himself is stalling the trial.

Milosevic, 61, has conducted his own defense, spending hours preparing his case in his jail cell and personally cross-examiningwitnesses. He suffers from heart problems and his poor health already has delayed proceedings by more than a month since he was brought to The Hague in June 2001.

In court on Monday, his first appearance after a 10-day recess due to illness, Milosevic rejected the prosecutor's proposal and called it "completely illegal, absurd and evil-minded."

Looking tired and pale, he asked for a break from the trial to review the volume of evidence, which he said was enormous, reportsreaching here from The Hague said.

The indictment covers war crimes Milosevic allegedly committed in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo during the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s. His trial began on Feb. 12 this year and was expected to last about two years. The former Serb leader could be sentenced toup to life imprisonment if convicted of any of 66 counts of war crimes he is charged with.

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