Milosevic files witness wish list

Both Blair and Clinton could end up in the witness box

Slobodan Milosevic has compiled a list of 1,631 people he wants to call as witnesses at his war crimes trial, according to one of his legal advisers.

Topping the list are the former US President Bill Clinton and current UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The former Yugoslav president is due to begin his defence case at the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague on 8 June.

Which witnesses are relevant will be decided by the trial judges, who now include a replacement for Richard May.

The tribunal has appointed Scottish Lord Iain Bonomy to replace Judge May who stood down for health reasons.

Mr Milosevic's witness list is more than five times longer than the number called in two years by the prosecution.

Nato campaign

He is charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo in the 1990s.

Mr Milosevic has denounced the trial as politically motivated

Mr Milosevic has repeatedly refused to enter a plea, and has attempted to denounce the legitimacy of the court.

The court has recorded a not guilty plea to all the charges on his behalf.

Once a lawyer himself, Mr Milosevic has chosen to defend himself in his trial, vigorously cross-examining witnesses on more than one occasion.

Mr Clinton and Mr Blair were both key leaders during Nato's bombing of the Yugoslav capital Belgrade during the 1999 Kosovo conflict.

Frequent setbacks

Also on the list, according to lawyer Zdenko Tomanovic, are former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who was a US ambassador to the UN during the Bosnian war, and former UK Foreign Secretary Robin Cook.

Mr Tomanovic said he believes the court will rule in favour of admitting many of the witnesses.

But not all observers of the trial are so confident.

Jim Landale, a spokesman for the war crimes tribunal, told the Reuters news agency: "The mere fact that he submitted all these names doesn't necessarily mean that all of these witnesses will appear.

"All we've got at the moment is a submission by the accused of witnesses he would like to call."

Prosecutors rested their case against Mr Milosevic on 25 February, because of the illnesses of the defendant and the presiding judge Richard May, who announced he was resigning on health grounds.

The trial has been delayed many times since it started in February 2002 because of Mr Milosevic's heart problems, high blood pressure and bouts of fatigue.