The US seeks dismissal of the motion for additional testimony by retired General Wesley Clark, which has been filed by court-assigned defence counsel Steven Kay, the US Embassy to The Hague said in a letter to the ICTY dated 28 February.
The letter said that the defence attorney did not provide good cause for additional testimony and that he did not meet the standards for issuing a subpoena. To call Clark again would be inconsistent with the protective measures under which he testified initially and would pose an unreasonable burden on all the parties concerned without benefiting the defence, it added.
General Clark, who served as NATO commander in Europe from 1996 to 2000, testified in the Milosevic trial on 15 and 16 December 2003. At the request of the US government, the hearing was limited in nature and scope, and a transcript of it was made public in shortened and censored form.
Kay filed the motion on 21 February, requesting that Clark be subpoenaed to give additional testimony in order to provide evidence needed for Milosevic's defence. He listed eight topics on which the defence wished to ask him questions, all of them relating to the NATO bombing of the Yugoslav federation of Serbia and Montenegro in 1999 and the Kosovo Liberation Army.
The US has consulted Clark and he has confirmed that he has no relevant or material information that would contribute to any of the eight topics of interest to the defence, said the US Embassy letter, signed by Embassy Legal Adviser Heather Schildge.
The defence attorney also asked the ICTY to subpoena former US President Bill Clinton to testify.