Milosevic told not to waste time, trial in third year

UN judges demanded yesterday that former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic stop wasting time and ask witnesses more focused questions as his marathon war crimes trial entered its third year.

"You're going round and round in circles and you are consuming a lot of time. You have a specific number of days to present your case and you must use your time more prudently," presiding judge Patrick Robinson told Milosevic.

The three judges trying Milosevic have said that up to January 24, the former Serb strongman had used about 28 days of the 150 court days allocated for his defence. The court said last year that it wanted him to wrap up his case by October.

Milosevic's trial at the UN tribunal in The Hague, which started on February 12, 2002, has been delayed repeatedly by the poor health of the 63-year-old former president, who has a heart condition and high blood pressure.

Milosevic called former Yugoslav Foreign Minister Vladislav Ivanovic as his latest defence witness yesterday.

He asked Mr Ivanovic to confirm his assertion that the violence in the Balkans in the 1990s was sparked by secessionist republics trying to break away from the Yugoslav federation.

Judge Iain Bonomy said Milosevic was asking leading questions and urged him to focus on the charges for which he is on trial and stop what he called the "pointless" way of conducting his cross-examination of the witness.

"I am increasingly concerned about how the accused is using the time available to him to prove whether he is responsible for the crimes of which he is accused," the judge said.