Slobodan Milosevic Son Alleges 'Murder'

Slobodan Milosevic Son Alleges 'Murder'

Published: 3/14/06, 7:26 AM EDT
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - Slobodan Milosevic's son, alleging his father had been "killed," flew to the Netherlands Tuesday to claim the remains of the late Serb leader for burial, while the judges who conducted the former president's war crimes trial formally closed the landmark case.

"He got killed. He didn't die. He got killed. There's a murder," Marko Milosevic said on arriving in Amsterdam for the short drive to The Hague where his father's remains have been kept since his death was discovered Saturday.

Milosevic, the Serbian strongman who presided over four Balkan wars and the breakup of Yugoslavia that cost some 250,000 lives, died of a heart attack, according to preliminary autopsy findings.

But four Russian medical experts also came to the Netherlands on Tuesday to examine the results, saying they distrusted the findings and the care that Milosevic received from U.N. authorities.

A tribunal official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said prison authorities had been warning for months that Milosevic's life could be at risk after they repeatedly found banned material in his cell, including alcohol and unprescribed drugs.

The official, who was in a position to see confidential reports but could not be identified because of U.N. confidentiality rules, said two doctors concluded that the former Serb leader was intentionally taking drugs that undermined medication prescribed for his heart ailments.

Milosevic, who was defending himself against 66 counts of war crimes, was allowed to work in a private office where he could meet privately with witnesses and legal advisers, making it impossible to monitor material they may have smuggled in to him, the official said.

A Dutch toxicologist, Donald Uges, said on Monday that blood tests he conducted on samples taken from Milosevic earlier this year uncovered traces of a drug used to treat leprosy or tuberculosis that would neutralize the effects of the beta-blockers Milosevic was taking to control his blood pressure.

The official said other doctors had found similar results in their tests.

The results of a toxicological examination during the autopsy on Milosevic were due to be released in the coming days, said tribunal spokeswoman Alexandra Milenov. She refused to comment on the anonymous official's remarks since a tribunal inquiry was in progress. The head of the U.N. detention unit, Timothy McFadden, declined to be interviewed.

U.N. prosecutors complained as early as 2004 that Milosevic was defying his regime of prescribed medication and taking other drugs to manipulate his health to his advantage during the court proceedings. The trial was repeatedly interrupted at critical points because of the defendant's ill health.

In Courtroom 1 at the tribunal building, meanwhile, the case against Milosevic was declared closed on Tuesday.

Judge Patrick Robinson, who repeatedly clashed with the combative defendant over four years, said the Milosevic's "untimely passing ... terminates these proceedings." A formal order closing the file would be issued shortly, he said.

The two-minute hearing brought an abrupt end to the most important war crimes trial in 60 years, in a case that was meant to establish political responsibility for the worst crimes known to man - genocide.

It was still unclear where Milosevic would be taken for burial. The family requested a state funeral in Belgrade - though a ceremony with state honors was unlikely to be granted since it could become a rallying point for nationalists and Milosevic loyalists.

A Belgrade court said Tuesday that an arrest warrant for Slobodan Milosevic's wife had been suspended, leading to a possible Belgrade funeral.

The court said Mirjana Markovic "will remain free and will not be taken into custody" after her lawyers deposited a bond worth $17,000 guaranteeing she would appear in court at a hearing that has not yet been scheduled.

Markovic left Serbia in February 2003 to join her son, Marko, in Russia, and an Interpol arrest warrant was issued against her the same month over a real estate scandal. It was briefly revoked and later reinstated after Markovic failed to appear in court in September 2005.

On Monday, Marko Milosevic raised the possibility of a temporary burial in Russia if the Serb government banned a Belgrade funeral.

Milosevic was the sixth war crimes suspect from the Balkans to die at The Hague. A week earlier, convicted former Croatian Serb leader Milan Babic, a star prosecution witness against Milosevic, killed himself in the same prison.

credit BellSouth