Milosevic
may be buried in Belgrade
MONDAY,
MARCH 13, 2006
Zdenko Tomanovic said Milosevic's remains will be claimed by his son Marko either Monday or Tuesday, even though authorities in Belgrade have issued an international arrest warrant for Marko.
Tomanovic said the family wanted Milosevic's funeral to be held in Belgrade, but it was unclear if Serb authorities will approve of the plans.
"I have just submitted information to the government of Serbia that the funeral will be in Belgrade, that this is the wish of (the) Milosevic family," Tomanovic told reporters at the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, where Milosevic had been on trial for more than four years for his role in the Balkan wars of the 1990s.
Tomanovic said the family was seeking a state burial. On Sunday, Serbian President Boris Tadic dismissed that option as "absolutely inappropriate."
Tomanovic said Milosevic's son would claim the body "as soon as possible, probably today or tomorrow in the morning."
But the Dutch Foreign Ministry said Marko Milosevic, who lives in Moscow, had not applied for a visa by Monday afternoon. Spokesman Dirk-Jan Vermeij said Milosevic's son must personally apply for the visa at the Dutch Embassy in Moscow.
Milosevic's widow, Marjana Markovic, had said she wanted the funeral to be held in Moscow, where she lives in self-imposed exile, since she is wanted by Serb authorities and would face being arrested if she went to Serbia.
Dutch prosecutors released Milosevic's body earlier Monday at a forensic institute where the remains underwent an eight-hour autopsy the previous day.
The release from custody meant the investigation on the corpse had been completed. It did not mean, however, that the inquiry into the cause of death was complete.
The tribunal announced late Sunday that preliminary results from the autopsy showed Milosevic died of a heart attack.
Dutch officials were in put in charge of the body after the tribunal delivered it to a team of Dutch pathologists, who conducted the post-mortem under the observation of two Serb doctors.
On Monday, a Dutch toxicologist confirmed he found traces of an non-prescribed drug in a blood sample taken from Milosevic earlier this year.
Donald Uges said he was asked to examine the sample after Milosevic's blood pressure failed to respond to medication given by doctors at the U.N. detention center near The Hague, where he was being held during his war crimes trial.
Uges said he found traces of rifampicin, a drug that could have reduced the effectiveness of his other medications.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/03/13/news/web.0313body.php
A legal aide to Milosevic said Monday that it was "the wishes of Milosevic's family" that his funeral be held in the Serb capital.
