The Hague war crimes tribunal said today the prosecution would sum up against former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic next Tuesday and Wednesday.
It had been due to wrap up its arguments this week but proceedings were postponed due to Mr Milosevic's poor health. Prosecutors have called more than 290 witnesses over the past two years in what is regarded as Europe's most significant war crimes trial since leading Nazis were tried at Nuremberg after World War Two.
The 62-year-old former Serbian leader is charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and responsibility for war crimes in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s.
Mr Milosevic, a lawyer who has insisted on conducting his own defence, is due to open his case in May.
Describing himself as a peacemaker in the Balkans and refusing to recognise the UN court, he has dismissed the 66 counts against him as politically motivated lies and declined to plead. Pleas of "not guilty" were entered on his behalf.
Since the Serbian reformists who ousted him handed him over to the United Nations in 2001, Mr Milosevic has suffered from periodic bouts of high blood pressure, flu and exhaustion.
He was examined by a cardiologist in 2002 but refused a psychiatric examination ordered by judges more than a year ago to gauge any toll the trial may be taking on his mental health.