Milosevic Ill Health Prompts Another Trial Delay

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Ill health has prompted another delay in the war crimes trial of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, the tribunal in the Hague said Monday.

A short court statement said Tuesday's hearing had been canceled as Milosevic was unwell, but gave no other details.

Milosevic's legal adviser, Zdenko Tomanovic, told Serbian B92 radio: "The doctor said that Milosevic has flu and fever and that he will not be able to continue with the trial this week."

Jim Landale, spokesman for the international tribunal for former Yugoslavia, said decisions on whether or not to cancel Wednesday's hearing or subsequent sessions would be made on a day-to-day basis.

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

Since his trial opened in February 2002, it has been halted nearly a dozen times due to his ill health -- the last time in September. He is usually scheduled to appear about three days a week.

Milosevic, now 62, was examined by a cardiologist in 2002. In December of the same year he refused to undergo a psychiatric examination ordered by judges to gauge the toll the trial was taking on his mental health.