THE HAGUE, Sept 9: The mammoth trial of Slobodan Milosevic has run into trouble this week as several witnesses have said they refuse to testify for the defence case after judges imposed a lawyer on the former Yugoslav president.

At least two witnesses have already refused to testify since judges forced Milosevic last week to take on a lawyer, defending counsel Steven Kay told the court on Thursday.

The witnesses told Kay they would not come if he called them to testify because they objected to the fact that Milosevic was no longer allowed to defend himself. Kay called on all defence witnesses to cooperate.

"Not attending will not do the defence case any good whereas attendance will," he stressed. Russian parliamentarian Nikolai Ryjkov has publicly said that he has refused to testify in protest at the court's decision to impose a lawyer. Ryjkov said he had been scheduled to appear next week.

In a separate statement issued on Thursday, five French witnesses also said they would not show if Kay called them.

"The French witnesses will only come to the UN war crimes court for the former Yugoslavia if called by Mr Milosevic and will not answer any other questions than those posed by him," they said. One of Milosevic's legal advisors told journalists that another witness had also refused to testify. -AFP