MR. KAY'S OPTIONS: WIN THE APPEAL OR RESIGN

www.slobodan-milosevic.org - September 21, 2004

Until the beginning of this month, Slobodan Milosevic had a witness list of 1,631 people wanting to defend him against the charges contained in The Hague Tribunal's indictment.

But the Tribunal's decision to force him to accept a defense attorney against his will rather than present his own defense, has caused most of the witnesses on the list to boycott the trial.

The witnesses have simply refused to be associated with a trial where the defendant is not allowed to present his defense.

Canada's former ambassador to Yugoslavia, James Bissett, summed up the feelings of the vast majority of Milosevic's would-be witnesses when he wrote in a letter to the tribunal that "I do not want to be part of this travesty of justice." According to Bissett the trial has "taken on all the characteristics of a Stalinist show trial."

Bissett hits the nail on the head for the vast majority of witnesses. Nobody, who is a person of integrity, wants to go down in history as having been a part of such a blatant miscarriage of justice as this so-called "trial" is turning out to be.

Because of the tribunal's decision to deny Milosevic the fundamental right to present his defense, crucial witnesses can not, in good conscious, take part in the proceedings.

The former Montenegrin president Momir Bulatovic, historians Slavenko Terzic and Vasilije Krestic, writer Momo Kapor, ex-Croatian Serb leader Borislav Mikelic, Russian parliamentarian Nikolai Ryzhkov, the former U.S. State Department Yugoslavia section chief George Kenny, and the above mentioned Canadian ambassador James Bissett, are just a few of the 265 witnesses who have so-far announced their refusal to testify.

Milosevic's defense can not be presented under the conditions imposed by the tribunal. Because the tribunal has seen fit to deny Milosevic his defense, important evidence is not being presented, and nobody with a brain in their head can say that justice is being done.

The witness boycott has delayed the trial until at least October 12th, but it is likely that Mr. Kay, the defense attorney imposed on Milosevic against his will, can scrape tougher enough witnesses to fill out the remainder of the 150 days allotted for what the tribunal calls "Slobodan Milosevic's defense".

Mr. Kay, working from the list of 1,631 potential witnesses, can get the witnesses he needs if only 7% of that list agrees to testify. Assuming that they testify at the same rate as the first three witnesses did.

Two out of the first 25 witnesses (or 8%) agreed to testify for Kay. If that trend continues, then Mr. Kay will have enough witnesses to run out the clock.

Obviously the problem with that scenario is that the case Kay would be putting forward can not be Milosevic's defense.

Milosevic has said repeatedly that Mr. Kay is not presenting his defense. According to Milosevic, "Mr. Kay knows nothing about Yugoslavia."

Furthermore, Mr. Kay has admitted his inability to present a competent defense for Milosevic. In a submission filed before the tribunal on August 6th, Mr. Kay and his co-council Ms. Higgins stated, ”In the absence of instructions from the accused, an imposed lawyer would not be in a position to positively advance a defense or contest evidence during the trial."

Mr. Kay is currently filing an appeal against his own appointment. If his appeal succeeds then Milosevic's right to defend himself will be restored, the witnesses will testify, and Milosevic will put forward an explosive defense -- totally destroying the prosecution's case.

If Mr. Kay's appeal fails, then the only principled thing he can do is resign. If he fails in his appeal and decides to continue play-acting as "Slobodan Milosevic's attorney," even after admitting his own incompetence, then his reputation will be completely destroyed, and he will have placed himself on the wrong side of history.
 

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