Milosevic seeks two-year trial break

Milosevic has been on trial since February 2002

Former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic has requested to be freed for two years so he can prepare his defence against war crimes charges.

But Judge Richard May, presiding over the trial at The Hague, turned down the request for release and said there "can be no question" of such a long break in the proceedings.

Prosecutors in the long-running trial, which began in February in 2002, have so far called 230 witnesses and are due to wrap up their case by the end of the year.

Mr May said the three-judge panel would rule "in due course" on how long the former Serb leader can prepare, although he will be granted an equal number of trial days and witnesses as the prosecution.

Mr Milosevic, 62, insists he does not recognise the United Nations' court and has vowed to defend himself, despite entreaties from judges to appoint counsel.

High-profile witnesses

"The most modest amount of time that is necessary to prepare my defence is two years," he told the UN tribunal.

He also said he should be released so he can have "free and unsupervised access to sources and documents" to prepare his case.

But Richard May said: "We have ruled that the accused cannot be released provisionally and there is no reason to change that ruling now."

He also said: "There can be no question during a trial of a break of two years."

Mr Milosevic faces more than 60 charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo during the 1990s.

He has vowed to summon high-profile witnesses including French President Jacques Chirac and US former President Bill Clinton in his defence.