ICTY FIRES AMICUS CURIAE WLADIMIROFF

THE HAGUE, Oct 10 (Hina) - The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Thursday announced that it decided to dismiss Dutch attorney Michail Wladimiroff, tasked with ensuring Slobodan Milosevic has a fair trial. #L# Wladimiroff, who lost his status as one of the three amici curiae in the Milosevic war crimes trial, gave an interview to a Dutch newspaper last month in which he was quoted as saying that the prosecutors had by now produced enough evidence to secure a conviction on Kosovo and that they would have no problem producing more evidence to close the circle around Milosevic. The Trial Chamber decided that Wladimiroff could no longer be perceived as free from bias, presiding judge in Milosevic's trial Richard May said. "The statements taken as a whole would, in the Chamber's view, give rise to a reasonable perception of bias on the part of the amicus curiae," Judge Richard May said. The Chamber has instructed the registrar to revoke Wladimiroff's appointment as an amicus curiae, May said. Wladimiroff was not present in the court room on Thursday. After the contentious interview was published in September, Milosevic objected to the Chamber that by giving such assessments, the amicus curiae had prejudged the tribunal's verdict, which in his opinion represented obstruction of justice. (hina) it sb