"I can confirm that the Registry has received a request from Steven Kay and Gillian Higgins for their withdrawal from their role as assigned counsel in the Milosevic case. I would underline the fact that at this point it is a request. Both assigned counsel are still assigned to the case until there is a decision otherwise," the spokesman for the ICTY Registry and Chambers, Jim Landale, told a news conference in The Hague.
Landale added that it was still not clear whether it was within the jurisdiction of the Registry or the trial chamber to decide on the lawyers' request.
Kirsten Johnson, the public relations representative of the London-based office of the two lawyers, said today that Kay and Higgins submitted the request yesterday, and that a decision could be expected in a few weeks' time. Until then, the lawyers will continue performing their duties before the ICTY.
The tribunal assigned the two lawyers as defence counsel for Milosevic in early September, after doctors established that the defendant's poor health prevented him from conducting his defence on his own.
Milosevic strongly opposed the appointment of the two lawyers as his defence counsel, and decided to boycott their efforts. Consequently, almost all defence witnesses also decided to boycott the continuation of the trial as long as Milosevic had the court-assigned attorneys. This is the reason the two lawyers insist on being relieved of duty.
The 66-count indictment charges Milosevic, a former Yugoslav president, with crimes against humanity in Croatia and Kosovo and genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the 1990s.
The marathon trial, which started in February 2002, has been interrupted several times due to the defendant's health problems.