HAGUE: Former Yugoslav president Mr Slobodan Milosevic's trial ground to a halt yesterday for the second time this month as his ailing health sparked concern about disruption to Europe's top international war crimes case since the second World War.
Mr Milosevic, who has high blood pressure, chose to mount his defence himself against charges of ethnic cleansing in the Balkans in the 1990s, in a show of contempt for the tribunal. But poor health has halted proceedings in The Hague five times in nine months.
The trial, which started in February, has run intermittently because Mr Milosevic has suffered bouts of flu, exhaustion and high blood pressure, and judges have called on lawyers to find ways of reducing the court's workload.
"We have a report from the detention unit that the accused has said that he is tired and also that his blood pressure is described as being too high," Judge Richard May, presiding, told the UN tribunal.
"The doctor was coming to see him. We shall order a report from the doctor today. First, as to the current state of health of the accused; what it is that's wrong with him and his health; when is he likely to be able to resume the trial and finally a prognosis as to his future fitness," Judge May said.- (Reuters)
The war crimes court has consolidated two genocide indictments against Bosnian Serb military leader Gen Ratko Mladic and reduced the number of charges against him. The new indictment leaves "only the most serious counts" against one of the UN's most wanted war criminals, who is still at large, the court said. In the new document, he is charged with one count of genocide and one count of complicity in genocide, seven counts of crimes against humanity, and six counts of war crimes.