Milosevic's Son, in Hiding, Attacks New Rulers
BELGRADE (Reuters) - The son of ousted Yugoslav leader Slobodan
Milosevic (news - web sites) has accused the country's new rulers of
seeking to ``exterminate'' the former first family, a weekly newspaper
reported on Tuesday.
Marko Milosevic, who fled the country on a false passport after the mass
uprising last year which put reformers in power, also denied allegations
of involvement in lucrative and shady cigarette and oil dealings during
his father's turbulent rule.
``I never took any part in such dealings and the competent authorities
know this too,'' Marko told the weekly Svedok in what it billed as his
first interview since he left Yugoslavia.
Marko, widely disliked in Serbia and once described by the United States
as one of the richest and most violent members of the Serbian mafia,
said his father now faced a U.N. war crimes trial because of his long
defense of the Serbs.
The weekly said Marko, a 27-year-old former racing car driver, was
abroad but did not say where. It also did not say how it interviewed
him. He has earlier been reported to be in either Russia or one of the
former Soviet republics.
``I left because I feared for my family's safety and decided not to
return when it became clear that the law and instruments of power were
being used to exterminate my family,'' he said.
The younger of two children, Marko became rich years ago -- according to
his critics, thanks to questionable business dealings and with the help
of underworld figures and the police.
He owned a disco, an amusement park, a bakery, a cosmetics shop and a
local radio station -- sparking widespread allegations he used his
father's position to enrich himself.
But Marko told Svedok: ``I didn't earn a single dinar by taking it away
from someone...society could only benefit from my obvious investments.''
He said he wanted to see his father, arrested on April 1 for alleged
abuse of power and shipped to the U.N. court in The Hague (news - web
sites) last month, ``alive, well and free'' as soon as possible.
``He is in The Hague because his defense of the Serbian people was too
spirited and lasted far too long for the liking of the governments of
some European countries and the United States,'' Marko said.
The U.N. war crimes tribunal indicted Milosevic and four top aides
during NATO (news - web sites)'s 1999 bombing campaign against
Yugoslavia, accusing forces under their command of responsibility for
atrocities committed against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.
Asked what he thought about the country's new reformist authorities,
Marko said: ``I think the puppet Yugoslav government has verified the
old Serb saying that 'if the conquerors' hands are blood-stained to the
elbows, the hands of those serving them must be blood-stained to the
shoulders'.''
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