Milosevic spurns Hague lawyers

THE HAGUE, The Netherlands -- Slobodan Milosevic has refused to work with a team of lawyers appointed by the U.N. war crimes tribunal to assist his defence.

Zdenko Tomanovic, a legal adviser and friend of the Milosevic family, told The Associated Press news agency that the former Yugoslav president has refused any legal help at his coming trial in The Hague, the Netherlands.

Quoting Milosevic, Tomanovic said: "The appointed lawyers... are accomplices in a staged political process against the Yugoslav leader who defended the country against the NATO aggressors."

The tribunal appointed three lawyers -- a Briton, a Yugoslav and a Dutchman -- on Thursday to act as "friends of the court" for Milosevic, but not as defence counsel.

A spokesman for the tribunal said the team were not charged with legally representing Milosevic, but had been assigned to ensure his rights and interests are protected so he gets a fair trial.

But Tomanovic said: "The appointment of the lawyers without his consent further assured Milosevic that the court is fake and illegal."

Milosevic, who has made two confrontational appearances before the tribunal since his transfer to The Hague on June 28, has said he considers the court illegal and refuses to recognise its right to try him.

The tribunal has instructed the lawyers to prepare pretrial motions, make submissions or objections during the forthcoming trial and raise any mitigating evidence that could help Milosevic.

But they are not allowed to organise a defence strategy and Milosevic's verbal rejection of them has no legal effect.

U.N. prosecutors had asked a panel of three judges at a hearing last week to override objections by Milosevic and assign him a team of defence lawyers, but the court ruled Milosevic, who has a law degree, is entitled to represent himself.

Milosevic, who ruled Yugoslavia for 13 years, is charged with crimes against humanity and other violations of international law in Serbia's repression of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo two years ago.

Chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte has said she will submit two other indictments next month for crimes allegedly committed during the wars in Bosnia and Croatia, including charges of genocide in Bosnia, the Associated Press reported.

If the three indictments are tried simultaneously, the trial is not expected to begin until late next year.