March 13 (Bloomberg) -- A toxicologist who tested Slobodan
Milosevic two weeks before he was found dead in a Hague jail cell said the
former Yugoslav leader may have taken an unprescribed drug that worsened
his high blood pressure, in a bid to be sent to Moscow for care.
Milosevic's blood contained traces of rifampicin, an
antibiotic used to treat tuberculosis and leprosy, which can counteract
the effect of blood-pressure drugs, Dutch toxicologist Donald Uges said
today in a phone interview from Groningen.
``It's a very clever one, because in a normal
toxicological screen you don't look for this drug,'' Uges said. ``It was
for him the only possibility to go to Moscow.'' Milosevic's family members
have visited or lived in Moscow since he was jailed.
Milosevic, 64, the first head of state to appear before an
international war crimes tribunal, was found dead in his cell in The Hague
on March 11. An autopsy overseen by Dutch authorities showed he died of a
heart attack, the United Nations court in The Hague said on its Web site.
The UN tribunal declined to comment on Uges's remarks on his toxicological
tests on Milosevic.
Milosevic's death, as his genocide trial entered a fourth
year, may pressure Serbia to hand over the highest-ranking of the six
war-crimes suspects still at large, Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic. The
European Union said talks leading to closer ties with Serbia will be put
on hold unless Serb authorities arrest Karadzic and Mladic by the end of
this month. Serbia is seeking to join the EU.
Milosevic faced life in prison if he'd been convicted over
the 1990s conflicts that marked the breakup of Yugoslavia.
Poisoning Alleged
Milosevic's lawyer, Zdenko Tomanovic, told Serbia's Blic
daily that the former president alleged the day before he died, in letter
to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, that someone at the court was
trying to poison him with a leprosy drug.
Dutch forensic pathologists said the cause of death was a
``myocardial infarction,'' according to the court. Pathologists identified
two heart conditions Milosevic suffered from that may explain the heart
attack. Two Serbian pathologists attended the procedure.
Further toxicological tests ``will take a couple of
days,'' said Suzanne Staals, a spokeswoman for the Dutch Public
Prosecutor.
Funeral
The Dutch prosecutor's office said the legal restriction
on Milosevic's body was lifted today, suggesting a family member would be
able to collect the remains.
Milosevic's family has decided to hold his funeral in
Belgrade, Agence France-Presse reported, citing Tomanovic. Milosevic's
son, Marko, received a visa for travel to the Netherlands from the Dutch
Embassy in Moscow, AFP said.
The ``remaining question'' is whether the funeral would be
a state ceremony, Tomanovic said.
Serbian President Boris Tadic said a funeral with state
honors would be inappropriate, given the role Milosevic played in Serbia's
history and contrary to the will of citizens who ousted him in 2000,
Belgrade's B92 Radio reported on its Web site, citing a statement from
Tadic's office.
Tadic also refused to lift charges against Milosevic's
widow, Mirjana Markovic. She is wanted by Interpol on a Serbian warrant in
connection with fraud charges, according to Interpol's Web site. Markovic
also was asked to report to the police in Serbia to be questioned in the
case of the murdered former President of Serbia Ivan Stambolic, B92 said.
Babic
Milosevic's trial began on Feb. 12, 2002. Milan Babic, a
Serb leader jailed by the tribunal in 2004, committed suicide in his cell
last week. He had testified against Milosevic in 2002.
Last month, the tribunal rejected a request from Milosevic
to travel to Moscow for treatment, on the grounds he could be treated in
the Netherlands and that he might flee.
Uges said he carried out the tests under instructions from
Milosevic's prison doctor, who tried to find out why his blood pressure
remained high even with medication. Uges said he didn't know if Milosevic
was stopped from taking rifampicin after his findings two weeks ago.
``When he stopped taking this drug, his blood pressure
would have had to come down,'' Uges said, adding that he still had the
blood sample taken at the time of the test.
Suicide Possible
Uges said he didn't believe Milosevic was killed.
``I don't believe in murder,'' Uges said. ``Suicide
perhaps. I cannot exclude it.''
Rifampicin, also known as rifampin, may cause interactions
with many drugs, including some prescribed for heart conditions and
thinning the blood, according to the Web site of the U.S. National
Institutes of Health.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said it received a
handwritten letter yesterday in which Milosevic spoke of ``inadequate
treatment'' by court doctors and again asked for Russia's support to gain
him a transfer to Moscow for treatment, according to a statement on the
ministry's Web site.
The letter was delivered to the Russian Embassy in The
Hague on March 11, the day Milosevic was found dead, and the ministry in
Moscow received it in the second half of the following day, the ministry
said.
``It is a great pity for justice that the trial will not
be completed,'' Carla Del Ponte, the chief prosecutor at the Hague
tribunal, said. It is now even more urgent to arrest Karadzic, the former
Bosnian Serb leader, and Mladic, a former Bosnian Serb general, she said.
The proceedings against Milosevic should have been
finished before the summer, Del Ponte was cited as saying by Blic.
Milosevic was extradited to The Hague in 2001 and his
trial was adjourned several times as his health deteriorated. In November
2002, judges in the case ordered Milosevic to undergo a psychiatric review
to assess the strain of the trial.
