Former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, the "Butcher of the Balkans"
being tried for war crimes and genocide over the Balkans conflicts that killed
more than 200Â 000 people, was found dead in his cell-room bed on
Saturday.
"Today, Saturday March 11, Slobodan Milosevic was found lifeless on his bed in his cell at the United Nations detention unit in Scheveningen," said a statement by the court in The Hague. "The guard immediately alerted the detention unit officer in command and the medical officer. The latter confirmed that Slobodan Milosevic was dead," the court said in a statement. The news provoked widespread fury because the burly 64-year-old Milosevic had for ever escaped justice and prompted questions about the responsibility of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. The court launched an inquiry into the death. A full autopsy and a toxicological report have been ordered, it said. Milosevic's family were informed of his death, it added. Russia's Interfax news agency quoted the brother of Milosevic, Borislav Milosevic, as saying the tribunal in The Hague "carries full responsibility" for the death. The judges had denied a request from Milosevic, who was suffering from high blood pressure and heart problems, to undergo medical treatment in Moscow, saying they saw no reason why Russian doctors could not treat him in The Netherlands. "The tribunal has nothing to be blamed for," tribunal spokesperson Christian Chartier said. "The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia takes the utmost care of its indictees and of [Milosevic] in particular. We cannot be blamed for negligence." Milosevic's death was announced just six days after the suicide in the same prison of his former ally, 50-year-old Croatian Serb ex-leader Milan Babic, who pleaded guilty to crimes against humanity perpetrated during the 1991-1995 war in Croatia. 'Not fair' In the streets of Belgrade, Serbs reacted with a mixture of shock, anger and deep suspicion. "It is not fair that the bastard died in a dream while others died in pain," said 43-year-old Belgrade resident Duska, who asked not to give her full name. "Now Sloba's supporters will make him a martyr, saying he would rather die than betray his country," said 35-year-old Janko Petrovic, referring to Milosevic by his nickname. "Nobody will have guts now to say that the UN tribunal is not biased against the Serbs. Not now, in a week that started with the death of Milan Babic and ended with Milosevic's death," Petrovic said. Milosevic had been on trial before the UN court since February 2002 on more than 60 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in the 1990s Balkan wars. He was facing separate genocide charges related to the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia, where Serb military strategies devised to depopulate non-Serb areas became known as "ethnic cleansing". Milosevic, who defended himself, never recognised the court's legitimacy and refused to even to make written submissions. Europe reacted with hope that his death might lead to reconciliation in the region. "I hope very much this event, the death of Milosevic will help Serbia to look definitely to the future," said European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, in Salzburg for EU talks with Balkans policymakers. "I hope very much that his passing will enable the people of Serbia better to come to terms with their past, which is the only way in which they can properly face their future," British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told reporters at the same meeting. Defiant Milosevic defied international sanctions and Nato bombs over nearly a decade of strife in the former Yugoslavia and was unmoved by the accusations against him. The Serb nationalist stoked conflicts that left more than 200Â 000 people dead, up to three million homeless and the Serbian economy in ruins. But the burly firebrand made no apologies for his actions in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo, where his drive for a Greater Serbia "cleansed" of Croats and Muslims sparked a rash of massacres and finally a showdown with the West. "I'm proud for everything I did in defending my country and my people," he told United States television network Fox News in a phone interview in 2001 from his jail outside The Hague while he was awaiting trial. "All my decisions are legitimate and legal, based on the constitution of Yugoslavia and based on the rights to self-defence." Milosevic was the first former head of state to appear before an international criminal court and faced life in jail if convicted. But he portrayed himself as a besieged statesman who struggled to keep the crumbling Yugoslav federation intact against separatists and "terrorists". The wily Serb matched bluff and cockiness with what one commentator called "a Machiavellian flare for shedding identities which are of no more use to him". Born the son of an Orthodox priest, he started his career as a faceless Communist minion, later fashioned himself into a successful businessman and technocrat, and bullied his way into political prominence as a ruthless champion of the Serbian cause. Both his parents ended up committing suicide 10 years apart. -- AFP Complete archives at http://www.sitbot.net/ Please let us stay on topic and be civil. OM
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