It would be very unfair towards all sides in the trial if verdicts for Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina are not passed only because there is a wish to spare the indictee from being tried for a while longer, prosecutor Nice said at today's hearing which discussed the possibility of conducting proceedings for Kosovo, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina separately.
Milosevic too opposed a separation of the proceedings, saying that the indictments were a whole and that his defence was designed as a whole. The negative consequences of separating the proceedings would be primarily to the detriment of the defence, he added.
"I am against separation of the proceedings and request to be given time to recuperate. I came here today in a very poor condition, but I came nevertheless so that this could continue," Milosevic said.
In the past month the trial was postponed three times due to Milosevic's poor condition, which prompted the trial chamber to schedule for today a hearing about the possibility to wrap up the trial for the Kosovo indictment and pass a verdict. The trial began on 12 February 2002.
The prosecution also opposed giving Milosevic additional time to present evidence because it believes that there should be no more postponements.
Prosecutor Nice said that the presentation of evidence by the defence for all three indictments should be completed in March 2006, without additional time being granted, and that separating the Kosovo indictment from the other two indictments would not significantly speed up the completion of the presentation of evidence.
Nice presented a number of other reasons why the proceedings should not be separated, such as the repeated presentation of the same evidence, a too long and harmful pause between the presentation of evidence by the defence and the prosecution for the indictments referring to Croatia and Bosnia, and a considerable postponement of the verdicts for Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Milosevic insisted that the trial chamber give him time to recover from his condition caused by high blood pressure and cited findings by a Russian-French-Serb team of doctors which he had chosen himself, as well as those by Dutch cardiologists, who were hired by the tribunal.
Following instructions by his medical team, Milosevic on 14 November requested a six-week break to rest.
Dutch cardiologist Paul van Dykman has recommended sufficient rest, adding that six weeks is a too long break, and the Medical Centre in Leiden has confirmed Milosevic's health problems.
During the 44 months of the trial, the prosecution introduced 298 witnesses in the first 300 business days. Since 31 August 2004, Milosevic has managed to introduce only some 50 witnesses, mostly those relating to the Kosovo indictment, using up 75 percent of the 150 days granted for the presentation of his defence. The former Yugoslav president on 16 October asked for an additional 100 days to introduce another 15 witnesses for Kosovo, 74 for Croatia and 106 for Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The trial chamber also said today that it was considering the possibility of subpoenaing some Western statesmen whom Milosevic wants to question as witnesses.
Citing reasons against separation of the proceedings, Milosevic also said that some of the key witnesses who he asked the tribunal to help him summon, such as former US president Bill Clinton and former NATO commander Wesley Clark, should testify about both Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
When he began presenting his defence in September 2004 Milosevic asked the trial chamber to subpoena some of the incumbent and former Western statesmen and NATO generals, including British PM Tony Blair, former German chancellor Wolfgang Schroeder, Clinton, General Clark and others.
Calling on the trial chamber to subpoena the witnesses, Milosevic spoke very critically of the way the trial chamber has been conducting the trial, claiming that the judges became concerned about its efficiency only when he started presenting his defence.
The trial of the former Yugoslav president, which was in recess in the past 13 days due to the defendant's condition, will resume on Wednesday with the introduction of another witness for the defence, presiding judge Patrick Robinson said today.
Milosevic is charged with genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina and with crimes against humanity and violations of the laws and customs of war in Croatia and Kosovo committed in the 1990's.