[JURIST] Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] on Wednesday again asked the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] to answer his request for provisional release [JURIST report] to travel to Russia for medical care. Milosevic suffers from high blood pressure and a heart condition and was granted a limited adjournment [JURIST report] in December before the trial again resumed in January [JURIST report].

The ICTY Office of the Prosecutor has opposed the request, fearing that Milosevic will cite health concerns once in Moscow as grounds for not returning to the tribunal. Prosecutors also suspect Milosevic's wife and son now reside in Moscow and have opposed release request despite a guarantee by Russia [JURIST report] of Milosevic's return to the ICTY. The court has said that Milosevic has already used more than four-fifths of his allowed defense time and hopes to wrap the case up this year [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.