Milosevic set to call for Blair and Clinton
Tony Blair heads an illustrious list of witnesses expected to be requested by Slobodan Milosevic as he prepares to begin his defence at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Republic of Yugoslavia (ICTY) in June.
Details of Slobodan Milosevic’s proposed list of witnesses have been leaked by legal advisor, Zdenko Tomanovic, who claims that former US president, Bill Clinton, former US secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, and former foreign secretary, Robin Cook, also feature on the list.
There is no guarantee any of the above will actually have to take the stand however, as the list, which is said to include a total of 1,631 people, must first gain the approval of the tribunal’s panel of judges.
“The mere fact that he submitted all these names doesn’t necessarily mean that all of these witnesses will appear,” said Jim Landale, a spokesman for the war crimes tribunal, to the Reuters news agency.
“All we’ve got at the moment is a submission by the accused of witnesses he would like to call.”
Mr Tomanovic however remained confident the court will rule in favour of admitting many of the witnesses.
The ICTY was established by UN resolution 827 in 1993 in order to bring to justice those involved in the conflict in the former Yugoslavia since 1991. The arrival of Milosevic for trial proved a coup for the court, which had earlier failed to bring any major figures from the war to trial.
But the trial itself has been beset by delays and complications, with Milosevic initially refusing to accept the jurisdiction of the court and British judge, Richard May, having to withdraw due to health problems.
