Milosevic's son comes to collect body for funeral

Marko Milosevic

THE HAGUE - Slobodan Milosevic's son arrived in the Netherlands today to collect his father's body, as Serbia cleared the way for the former Yugoslav president's widow to return for a funeral in Belgrade.

Milosevic, who died of a heart attack in jail on Saturday just months before a verdict in his war crimes trial, ruled for a decade as Yugoslavia imploded in conflict during the 1990s. Belgrade authorities have ruled out a state funeral.

A Serbian court said Milosevic's widow Mira Markovic, who fled to Moscow in 2003 to avoid charges of abuse of power, would not be arrested if she returned home. But she will face a court hearing and her passport will be confiscated, the court said.

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said the court's decision meant the funeral could take place in Serbia, but Milosevic's son Marko said he would consider a burial in Moscow unless he could be sure his mother would be safe in Belgrade.

"He should be buried in the place where he belongs, in the capital of our country, there is no discussion about that," Marko Milosevic told Reuters on arrival in The Hague.

"But unfortunately there are so many obstacles," he said. "The priority right now is the safety and life of my mother." Marko and a group of Russian doctors visited the forensic institute where Dutch pathologists conducted the autopsy on Sunday. Marko later left the institute without the body and it was not clear when or where he would take his father's remains.

Milosevic's family has accused the UN tribunal of murdering the former Serb strongman by refusing his request to travel to Russia for medical treatment. Moscow has expressed distrust of the Dutch investigation into Milosevic's death and sent the Russian doctors to examine the post-mortem results.

On Tuesday, the United Nations court that has been trying Milosevic for more than four years formally closed his trial for war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.

"We express our regret at his passing. We also regret that his untimely death has deprived not only him, but indeed all interested parties of a judgment upon the allegations in the indictment," Presiding Judge Patrick Robinson told the court.

In Belgrade, more than 30 detained war crimes suspects from across the former Yugoslavia published a tribute in newspapers to the man who presided over wars that tore the country apart. They bade "a last farewell to our fellow fighter in The Hague".

A preliminary autopsy report showed Milosevic died of heart failure. Toxicology test results are due later this week.

Serbian pathologists who attended the autopsy described it as very professional, but Milosevic's lawyer said he had feared he was being poisoned. He said Milosevic wrote a letter to Russia a day before he died asking for help.

"There were active, wilful steps taken, to destroy my health, throughout the proceedings of the trial," Milosevic wrote in the letter. "Those from whom I defended my own country in war are interested in me being quiet."

A Dutch expert said blood tests taken just weeks before Milosevic died suggested the 64-year-old, faced with a possible life sentence if convicted, had knowingly taken harmful medicines to bolster his case to go to Russia for treatment.

Branded the "Butcher of the Balkans", Milosevic was charged with 66 counts of war crimes in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo.

UN chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte said she was furious his victims had been denied justice and said Milosevic was responsible for his own poor health. "He was the one who decided that his state of health should deteriorate. He was secretly taking medicine," Del Ponte told French daily Le Monde.

Milosevic's brother Borislav criticised the tribunal's decision last month not to allow Milosevic to travel to Moscow for medical care and said he wanted him buried in Belgrade.

"It was a kind of murder," he told Dutch news show NOVA.

Belgrade has turned westwards since Milosevic was overthrown in 2000. His death has further increased pressure on Serbia to arrest Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his military commander Ratko Mladic, both accused of genocide by the UN tribunal, as a price of progress on European Union membership.

- REUTERS