JURIST - Paper Chase: BREAKING NEWS ~ Hague court forcing Milosevic to accept defense counsel

AP is reporting that the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia at the Hague has said it will force former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to use a defense lawyer. Milosevic, who opened his own defense Tuesday and who has been representing himself since his trial opened three years ago, was yesterday accused by the prosecution of evading the proceedings by not taking his heart medication properly, causing numerous delays (see this earlier report on JURIST's Paper Chase).

UPDATE: From Belgrade, Radio B92 is now reporting that Milosevic will appeal the court's ruling, quoting him as saying "This is an illegal decision, a breach of international rights, of all conventions and human rights. At the very moment when I am exercising my right to defense, you deprive me of those rights...". B92 says the court acted after two cardiologists certified that Milosevic was medically unfit to continue defending himself.