Milosevic anger at document deluge

28/01/2003 - 16:28:53  

Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic complained to the UN
tribunal today he is being deluged with documents filed by prosecutors
in his war crimes trial.

On his second day back in The Hague court after a two week bout of flu,
Milosevic said papers had piled up to overwhelming proportions during
his absence. He is acting as his own defence lawyer, and has refused to
allow anyone else to represent him.

"I received 40,000 pages alone while I was in my sick bed," Milosevic
said. "I don't understand why I'm being given these documents in
English, when they were originally taken in the language that I myself
speak."

Milosevic said he had now received a total of more than 300,000 pages of
material and more than 1,000 hours of videotapes from prosecutors.

He faces charges of crimes against humanity, including genocide, during
the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

British prosecutor Geoffrey Nice said he wasn't sure if Milosevic's
figures were accurate and gave a list of reasons why the various
documents were being submitted nearly one year after the trial began.

He said the documents were in fact created in English, not
Serbo-Croatian, and would be translated where necessary, although "it is
clear the accused speaks and understands English."

Presiding judge Richard May agreed with Milosevic that the new documents
represented "a huge amount of material," and asked Nice for a written
explanation before deciding if anything should be done.

Milosevic's poor health has lead to nearly two months of postponements
since his trial began last February. At 61, he suffers from high blood
pressure and heart problems.

http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/story.asp?j=60774598&p=6x7753x4



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