Milosevic dies in jail

[Deadly]

THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has died, the UN tribunal said on Saturday, just months before his trial for genocide and war crimes in the Balkans wars in the 1990s was expected to conclude.

"Milosevic was found lifeless on his bed in his cell at the United Nations detention unit," the tribunal said in a statement.

"The guard immediately alerted the detention unit officer in command and the medical officer. The latter confirmed that Slobodan Milosevic was dead."

The UN court said the Dutch police and a Dutch coroner were called in and started an inquiry. A full autopsy and toxicological examination have been ordered. Milosevic's family has been informed, it added.

A tribunal spokeswoman said she could not comment on the cause of death until the autopsy was completed, but added: "We have no indication that it was suicide."

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy told reporters in Salzburg that Milosevic had died of natural causes.

"I would like to spare a thought for all those who suffered so much from ethnic cleansing, tens of thousands of men, women and children, which Milosevic conceived and planned," he said.

Milosevic, 64, suffered a heart condition and high blood pressure which had repeatedly interrupted his trial in The Hague on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes during the bloody disintegration of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

As news of the death swept through the Balkans, an official of Milosevic's Socialist Party, Zoran Andjelkovic, said: "We expect the tribunal to explain how was it possible, and why they did not let him have treatment in Russia".

Another Socialist party official, reached on his car phone, said simply: "They killed him, the bastards."

Cardiologists treating Milosevic in The Hague had warned he was at risk of a potentially life threatening condition known as a hypertensive emergency, when surges in blood pressure can damage the heart, kidneys and central nervous system.

Last month, the tribunal rejected a request by Milosevic to travel to Russia for specialist medical treatment, noting that his trial -- that has already lasted four years -- was in the final stages and he might not return to complete it.

Milosevic, who was overthrown in 2000 and sent to The Hague in June 2001, said last month his health was worsening and he was hearing noises in his head. A lawyer by training, Milosevic was defending himself.

Steven Kay, a lawyer appointed by the tribunal to help Milosevic prepare his case, said the former Serb strongman had told him a few weeks ago he had no intention of taking his own life after working so hard to defend himself.

"He knew the risk that he was taking," Kay told BBC television, adding the pressure of defending himself raised his blood pressure but the case was expected to wrap up soon.

"There was an end in sight."

Milosevic's brother lives in Russia and prosecutors suspect his wife and son do too. The prosecution had opposed his release despite a promise by Russia to return him, fearing he could say his health stopped him from travelling back to The Hague.

Milosevic had used up more than four-fifths of the 150 days allotted for his defence, suggesting the case could have been wrapped up in the next few months barring any new delays. Judges would then need several months to deliberate before a verdict.

Milosevic was charged with 66 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in complex indictments covering conflicts in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo in the 1990s. He had declined to enter a plea.

Last week, former rebel Croatian Serb leader Milan Babic committed suicide at the tribunal's detention centre. Babic had testified against Milosevic and was in The Hague to appear in the trial of another top Croatian Serb.

Source - http://uk.news.yahoo.com/11032006/32...dies-jail.html

[Nikki]

suicide

[mladen]

I very very much doubt it was suicide. More likely of natural causes, as we do know he was having heart problems. After all, if you have been following the trial he was always in a pretty dominant position, and appeared to be very much enjoying the trials.

6 Serb indictees have died whilst in detention at the hague so far. It doesn't exactly do alot to encourage Mladic and Karadzic to give themselves up.

[Deadly]

Does seem pretty convenient timing lol reminds me of Hermann Goring (Chief of the Luftwaffe for the Nazi's) he was sentenced to death at the Nuremburg trials and before he was hung, he commited suicide biting a cyanide capsule in his cell.

Im guessing in this case though it probably was natural causes that killed him.

[Shambles]

When I heard this at lunchtime my first thoughts were "good riddance".

[partyman]

Just a shame justice was never served. I also doubt very much this was suicide.

he won't be missed

[mladen]

I know most of you won't agree with me, but I don't actually think he did a great deal wrong as president of former yugoslavia, and certainly wasn't wholly responsible for any of the charges put to him at the hague. He has alot more to answer for to the serbian people themselves.

I or my family in serbia never really liked him to be honest, but all agreed with his foreign policy (which certainly wasn't to cleanse kosovo, bosnia and the krajina region of croatia as he is commonly portrayed).

[Deadly]

Just read he feared he was being poisoned

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic feared he was poisoned in his detention cell in The Hague, his lawyer Zdenko Tomanovic said on Saturday hours after the tribunal announced Milosevic's death.

"Today I have filed an official request to the tribunal to have the autopsy carried out in Moscow, having in mind his claims yesterday that he was being poisoned in the jail," Tomanovic told Serbia's B-92 television from The Hague.

[shadowdancer]

yes, his lawyer contacted the russians the day before the death to say there was suspicion he was being poisoned.

sky news reporting now about how drugs were found in his system that would negate the heart medication he was on

Milosevic Had Heart Attack
Updated: 20:17, Sunday March 12, 2006

Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic died of a heart attack, according to sources close to the UN war crimes tribunal.

The news follows reports that doctors treating Milosevic found unusual substances in his blood.

They had been trying to find out why drugs he was receiving for high blood pressure and a heart condition had not been working.

A blood sample taken between November and January contained traces of drugs often used by patients being treated for leprosy or tuberculosis.

Those drugs neutralised the medicine Milosevic was given against high blood pressure and heart problems, Dutch TV station NOS said.

The former Yugoslav leader, 64, died in his cell at the UN Detention centre in The Hague on Saturday.

An autopsy has been conducted to establish how former Milosevic died but the results have not been released.

Milosevic's lawyer, Zdenko Tomanovic, said Milosevic had told him that he thought he was being poisoned.

He said: "I informed the Russian embassy on behalf of Mr Milosevic about his claims that his health was being wilfully destroyed, and that this should be investigated by the Russians."

He also claimed that Milosevic had written a six-page letter the day before he died reiterating the claims.

Milosevic's family said prosecutors and judges were to blame for his death because they refused to allow him to visit Russia for specialist treatment.

His older brother, Borislav Milosevic, said in Moscow: "All responsibility for this lies on the shoulders of the international tribunal. He asked for treatment several months ago, they knew this.

"They drove him to this as they didn't want to let him out alive."

Milosevic had been defending himself against 66 counts, including genocide, in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo.

The long-running hearings at the Hague were entering their final phase, with the former President expected to finish his defence by the summer.

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0...513290,00.html

[lionhart]

i hope sadam die soon ,

[Deadly]

sadam hope lionhart die soon too

what a great first post lol welcome to DF!

[Deadly]

THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Slobodan Milosevic took drugs that worsened his health before dying in prison, a Dutch expert said on Monday, as the former Yugoslav president's family tried to decide whether to bury him in Serbia or Russia.

Adding to controversy over Milosevic's death just months before an expected verdict in his war crimes trial, Russia expressed its "distrust" of proceedings and pressed The Hague tribunal to allow its doctors to examine post mortem results.

Groningen University toxicologist Donald Uges told Reuters he thought Milosevic had knowingly taken harmful medicines to improve his case for going for medical treatment to Russia, where his wife, son and brother live.

Dutch prosecutors said on Monday they had formally released his body, which Milosevic's son Marko wants to collect later on Monday or on Tuesday for burial. The Dutch Foreign Ministry said it had granted visas for Marko and Russian medical experts.

Marko said the family wanted the funeral in Belgrade, but might ask for a temporary burial in Moscow if the Serbian authorities failed to guarantee the safety of his mother Mira Markovic, who fled Serbia from corruption charges in 2003.

Milosevic, 64, who suffered from a heart condition and high blood pressure and was found dead in bed in his cell on Saturday, had faced a possible life sentence if convicted.

"I don't think he took his medicines for suicide -- only for his trip to Moscow ... that is where his friends and family are. I think that was his last possibility to escape The Hague," toxicologist Uges said. "I am so sure there is no murder."

Uges said tests he conducted two weeks ago on Milosevic's blood showed traces of rifampicin -- a drug used against leprosy and tuberculosis that would have neutralised other medicines.