THE HAGUE: Slobodan Milosevic was famous during the Balkan wars for confounding international diplomats by not playing by the rules. Now he is at it again - refusing to recognise the legitimacy of the war crimes court that will try him, writes Chris Stephen.
This is not just obstinacy. A conventional defence against the hundreds of war crimes accusations, from thousands of witnesses, would almost certainly fail.
Instead, Mr Milosevic is tugging at the seams of the garment, arguing that the war crimes court, nine years old this May, is illegitimate and in no position to convict him.
His refusal to recognise the tribunal has already tied it in knots. Officials spent months during pre-trial hearings trying to decide how to deal with a defendant who refuses to defend himself.
The court's decision has been to enter a "not guilty" plea on Mr Milosevic's behalf, and to appoint three officials as amici curiae - literally "court friends" - to watch over Mr Milosevic's interests.
But although Mr Milosevic has refused to appoint a lawyer, he has a top notch defence team sitting in the wings, led by French attorney, Mr Jaques Verges, famous for defending terrorist suspect Carlos the Jackal.
First, Mr Milosevic can strike at the legitimacy of this tribunal. The International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia was not set up by a popular vote, and not even by the UN General Assembly, but by a tight group of nations in the Security Council.
And three of the five permanent members - France, Great Britain and the US - went to war against Mr Milosevic just three years ago, fuelling concerns that this is a "victor's court".
Then there are questions over how fair the court is. The prosecution office enjoys massive advantages over defence lawyers. Each defendant to these trials brings a new defence team, while the prosecutors work at The Hague full time and pool resources.
They know each other. They socialise together. The judges know that if Mr Milosevic walks free it would be a disastrous blow to the prestige of the court, and to their own jobs. They need to convict him.