At the
grave of Milosevic, tributes rise
MONDAY,
MARCH 20, 2006
Piles of funeral wreaths, flowers, candles and messages expressing adoration for the former Yugoslav president flanked the gate of the Milosevic family estate in Pozarevac, 50 kilometers, or 30 miles, east of Belgrade, where Milosevic was interred a week after he died while on trial at the UN war crimes tribunal in the Netherlands.
"He was our last hope, Serbia's last chance not to be totally humiliated and conquered," said Dimitrije Pavlovic, a Serb living in Austria.
Pavlovic said he had driven more than 600 kilometers from Vienna to pay his respects to the man who was accused of some of Europe's worst atrocities since World War II.
Pavlovic fumed when asked about the genocide charges against Milosevic.
"He would have proven them wrong, if only they let him live," he said, echoing the belief among Milosevic supporters that the former president had been denied medical assistance he needed or even poisoned while in the custody of the UN tribunal in The Hague. United Nations officials have dismissed the allegations and an autopsy found that Milosevic had died of a heart attack.
Milosevic died March 11 in his room in a detention center near the UN tribunal, which was trying him on 66 counts of war crimes, including genocide.
Ceremonies preceding his burial Saturday in Pozarevac drew tens of thousands of mourners. About 80,000 Milosevic supporters in Belgrade and 20,000 in Pozarevac wept and chanted their former leader's name. Many carried pictures of the two most wanted UN war crimes suspects: the former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his wartime general, Ratko Mladic.
The large turnout underscored the difficulties the Serbian authorities face in their efforts to deliver the remaining war crimes suspects to the UN tribunal.
On Sunday, dozens of Milosevic supporters posed for photographs beside the tomb - inscribed with Milosevic's name and also that of his widow, Mirjana Markovic, who lives in self-imposed exile in Russia and wants to be buried beside her husband when she dies.
