Milosevic wrote: 'They want to poison me'

The Independent, London


Milosevic wrote: 'They want to poison me'. A day later, he was found
dead in his cell
By Stephen Castle in The Hague and Vesna Peric Zimonjic in Belgrade
Published: 13 March 2006

The mystery surrounding the cause of death of Slobodan Milosevic has
deepened after his lawyer produced a letter in which the former
leader expressed the fear he was being poisoned.

With a Serbian pathologist in attendance, a Dutch medical team has
carried out an autopsy on the body of the former Yugoslav president,
64, who was found dead in his cell on Saturday.

Zdenko Tomanovic, Milosevic's lawyer, produced a six-page letter
written by the former president on the day before his death claiming
that traces of a "heavy drug" were found in his blood. Mr Tomanovic
said Milosevic was "seriously concerned" he was being poisoned. "They
would like to poison me," he quoted his client as telling him.

The claim appeared to be bolstered by reports on Dutch television
that traces of a drug used to treat leprosy and tuberculosis were
found in a recent sample of Milosevic's blood.

As the court awaited results from the autopsy, the chief UN war
crimes prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, said suicide could not be ruled
out. There were, she added, two possible causes: "normal, natural
death and suicide".

It was impossible to monitor whether Milosevic, who was receiving
medication for high blood pressure and a heart condition, was
following the prescribed course of drugs, she added.

A request from Milosevic to travel to Moscow for medical treatment
was rejected by the UN tribunal last month. Leo Bokeria, the head of
the Moscow clinic where Milosevic had asked to be treated, said
yesterday that his doctors in The Hague suspected he was spitting out
the medicines he was given. "They carried out tests to check for the
presence of the medicine in his bloodstream because they thought that
he was hiding it in his cheeks," Mr Bokeria said.

Whatever the cause of death, Milosevic's demise is a huge blow to the
UN tribunal, bringing Europe's largest war crimes trial since
Nuremberg to an abrupt end, without a verdict. Ms Del Ponte, who said
the defendant's death "deprives victims of the justice they need and
deserve", defended her decision to mount such an all-encompassing
case against Milosevic, rather than focusing on narrower grounds. "It
is not just a question of conviction and sentencing. It is a question
of truth. That is important for the victims, particularly that they
have the full knowledge of what happened," she said.

But Richard Dicker, the director ofinternational justice at Human
Rights Watch, said: "The prosecutor needs to focus the indictment on
the most representative crimes for which there is the strongest
evidence. Criminal trials cannot be the vehicle for writing anything
approaching the definitive history of the crimes that occurred."

The prosecutor also argued that evidence she had gathered could be
used in other cases. Milosevic's death increased the need for the
Serb authorities to arrest and surrender the two most prominent war
crimes suspects still at large, the former Bosnian Serb leader,
Radovan Karadzic, and his military commander, Ratko Mladic, she said.

"The death of Slobodan Milosevic makes it even more urgent for them
to face justice," Ms Del Ponte said. However, the events of the
weekend are more likely to make Belgrade hesitate before moving
against Karadzic and Mladic, amid rising criticism among Serbs of the
UN authorities.

Milosevic's death came just one week after the former Croatian Serb
leader, Milan Babic, committed suicide in the same prison in
Scheveningen, a suburb of The Hague. Babic, once a Milosevic ally,
had been an important prosecution witness in his trial.

In Serbia, criticism of the tribunal for its relaxed surveillance of
Milosevic's health was widespread. His death has further eroded trust
in a country which never had faith in the impartiality of the court.

"I'm sorry Milosevic did not live to be sentenced, but it is
unbelievable that he died just like that and was found only hours
later," said Mladen Popovic, 53, a Belgrade playwright. "Wasn't there
any kind of video surveillance?"

Court officials may have to review their strategy for dealing with
high-profile prosecutions. Milosevic faced 66 counts including
genocide - the most serious charge and most difficult to prove. The
allegations spanned eight years and involved war crimes in Bosnia-
Herzegovina, Croatia and Kosovo. By the time of the defendant's
death, the court had sat for 466 days worth of four-hour sessions,
listened to 295 witnesses and seen around 5,000 exhibits. Mr Dicker
said: "In retrospect, separate indictments for crimes in Bosnia,
Croatia and Kosovo would have been more manageable."

In Serbia, there was no sign of national grief after the sudden death
of the man who led the country for 11 years. Official television and
independent media reported the controversy surrounding his death, but
also covered commemorations for the third anniversary of the
assassination of the former prime minister, Zoran Djindjic, who led
the ousting of Mr Milosevic in 2000. More people with candles
gathered at a ceremony in Belgrade New Cemetery, where Mr Djindjic is
buried, than at the premises of Mr Milosevic's once all-powerful
Socialist Party. Only a small queue of supporters waited to sign a
book of condolences.

Serbs are divided over Milosevic. For many he has faded into history,
but for some he remains a symbol of the Serb nation. "He's history,
he was gone since 2000," said Dragana Marjanovic, 35, a cab driver.
"I scarcely thought about him. I have my boys, my husband and my job
to think about."

But for others, he remains a hero. Mira Tesanovic, 42, a vendor at
Belgrade's Kalenic market and a war-time refugee from Sarajevo, cried
after hearing the news. "It was so hard to believe it," she said. "I
lost a twin brother in the war and nine family members. Milosevic was
my hero, the man who tried to save Serbs."

It remains unclear where he will be buried. Moscow is one possibility
as his wife, Mira, son, Marko, and brother, Borislav, now live there.

© 2006 Independent News and Media Limited