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Lawyers Ready to Defend Milosevic at Dutch Court
International lawyers said Thursday they will help former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to challenge the legality of his arrest and detention in the Dutch courts.
"An action will be commenced in Dutch courts in a very short time... to contest the legality of his arrest in Yugoslavia and the legality of his detention by the ICTY," Canadian lawyer Christopher Black, the leader of the international committee to defend Slobodan Milosevic, told reporters in the Hague.
Milosevic has been detained in The Hague by the International War Crimes Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) since his extradition from Belgrade at the end of June.
Black said challenges would also be launched at the European Commission and the United Nations General Assembly in an attempt to secure Milosevic's release.
Milosevic should be released, Black was quoted as saying from The Hague. "His arrest in Yugoslavia was outright kidnapping," Black said.
Black's colleague, Andre Tremblay, said Dutch law includes a provision that allows a person to contest his detention if during the arrest the laws of the country where the arrest took place were not respected.
The ICTY has charged Milosevic with committing crimes against humanity during the Kosovo conflict two years ago. But Milosevic refused to recognize the legitimacy of the tribunal at his first court appearance on July 3.
Black and his colleagues also argue that the U.N. Security Council had no authority to set up the war crimes tribunal in 1993.
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