By Jon Silverman BBC News Online

Judge May is standing down at the end of May for health reasons

And presiding Judge Richard May proved more than equal to the task.

One retort, in particular, to a Milosevic complaint summed up his refusal to be bullied by the former Yugoslav president. "Your views about the tribunal are now completely irrelevant, as far as these proceedings are concerned," Judge May said.

But in the battle of health problems which have dogged both men ever since, it seems as though Mr Milosevic is set to have the last word.

The President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Judge Theodor Meron, has said he is confident that a successor to Judge May will be in post soon.

Preparation time

TYPICAL MILOSEVIC-MAY CLASH Milosevic: Well, I would like to know first of all, can I speak or are you going to turn off my microphone like first time. Judge: Mr Milosevic, if you follow the rules then you will be able to speak. Milosevic: It is clear to any lawyer in the world that question of jurisdiction can be open when juridicial institutions are concerned, and you are not juridical institution. You are political tool... Judge: You've made that point, Mr Milosevic, we are not going to listen to political arguments, your motion on jurisdiction you have put in and we will consider it. What is a war crime?

The procedure is that a candidate has to be nominated by his or her own country and then elected by the United Nations. If tradition is followed, it will be someone also from Britain.

It seems clear that Judge May has made his decision to step down now because the trial is about to adjourn for three months to allow Mr Milosevic to prepare his defence.

The new judge will need all of that time, and maybe more, to read him or herself in. But there remains the question of fairness to the defendant.

With no jury, the entire weight falls on the three judges, and if one is overly-reliant on the others, a plausible case could be made for a mistrial.

Those who know Mr Milosevic think this is a tactic he may well pursue, even if it is unlikely to be successful.

Too much is at stake for the trial to collapse at this point.

Noises off

Apart from his unflappable demeanour, Judge May's great strength was his expertise in the rules of procedure and evidence.

This proved a perfect antidote to Mr Milosevic's attempts to use the trial as a platform for a vindication of his political strategy as Yugoslav and Serbian leader and to show his contempt for Nato.

On a number of occasions, Judge May ordered the defendant's microphone to be switched off when he overstepped the boundaries.

Milosevic referred to the judge as "Mr" May to try to cut him down to size.