The war crimes trial of Slobodan Milosevic will resume on July 14 providing the health of the former Yugoslav President permits, the court ruled today.

“The trial is adjourned until Wednesday, July 14, 2004, at which time, subject to the medical condition of the accused, it will recommence,” the panel of three judges presiding over the trial said.

The judges also appointed a cardiologist to give the Serbian leader another medical examination, and they requested that a lawyer be found to conduct Mr Milosevic’s defence if he was found to be too unwell to defend himself.

The judges said the trial would be adjourned again from July 21 until the end of August to allow more time to prepare the defence.

Mr Milosevic, 62, is conducting his own defence against 66 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide, during the wars in the 1990s in Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo.

The trial was thrown into question yesterday after doctors said that the health of the former Yugoslav President was deteriorating.

Judge Patrick Robinson, the President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, adjourned the trial just as Mr Milosevic was to begin presenting his defence, saying: "The time has come for a radical review of the trial process in light of the health problems of the accused, which are clearly recurrent."

Mr Milosevic's heart condition and his aggressive defence tactics have dragged out the trial, which began in February 2002, raising doubts about the effectiveness of the international tribunal.

Although doctors said that the former Serbian leader had dangerously high blood pressure, Mr Milosevic, who refuses to recognise the court, appeared in his usual combative form yesterday, interrupting the proceedings with wordy diatribes against his accusers.

Wearing a grey suit and red tie, he accused the judges of inflicting physical mistreatment on him comparable with the Spanish Inquisition.

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