Milosevic to Appear for Second Time in Hague Tribunal

Slobodan Milosevic is scheduled to appear Thursday in the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague when the court reconvenes to discuss progress on his case.

The former Yugoslav president, in the eight weeks since his first appearance on July 3, has celebrated his 60th birthday in custody and issued a strong denunciation of the court.

According to the rules of the tribunal, a defendant has to be produced at least once every 120 days. He or she can use the opportunity to raise concerns. In legal parlance of the ICTY, Thursday's session is called a "status conference."

At those sessions, The tribunal will hear from the lawyers what state the case has reached, how much evidence remains to be disclosed, the current list of witnesses and so on.

In Milosevic's case, the major issue now is likely to be whether he has had a change of mind over legal representation. At his first appearance, Milosevic's attitude towards the tribunal was openly contemptuous. He declined to acknowledge the legality of the court.






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