Supporters plan funeral for ‘Slobo the Hero’

THE body of Slobodan Milosevic returned to his homeland yesterday as his supporters planned a funeral that raised fears nationalists could use the ceremony to try to regain power.

Zoran Andjelkovic, a deputy leader of the Socialist Party, said Milosevic's remains will be laid to rest on Saturday on the grounds of his family home in the town of Pozarevac, about 30 miles southeast of Belgrade.

Serbia's government has ruled out a state funeral for the war crimes suspect, but his Socialist allies organised yesterday's arrival ceremony.

Milosevic's body arrived on a commercial flight from The Hague, where he died on Saturday during his trial on charges of war crimes and genocide.

The coffin, wrapped in clear plastic and packing tape, was removed from the jet on a small yellow vehicle with a conveyor belt.

As snow fell, Socialist Party officials marched to the plane, put a red, blue and white Serbian flag and a wreath with red roses on the coffin, and kissed it. A red ribbon on the wreath read: "Slobo the Hero".

Serbian television carried the arrival live.

Several hundred die-hard supporters some wiping away tears walked behind the hearse before it drove away to a morgue in a Belgrade hospital.

The body will be put on public display in a large tent in front of the federal parliament building in the centre of the capital, Mr Andjelkovic said.

There are fears nationalists could use the funeral to try win back power.

The Serbian Radical Party, an allied ultra-nationalist party, urged retired police and army officers to appear at the Milosevic funeral in ceremonial uniforms

The Socialists, who were ousted from power along with Milosevic in 2000, threatened to topple the government if he were denied a funeral in Serbia and his widow was not allowed to mourn him at home.

Milorad Vucelic, vice president of the Socialist Party, could not say if Milosevic's widow, Mirjana Markovic, or his son, Marko, would attend. Both have been living in Moscow in self-imposed exile.

But Sergei Baburin, a Russian nationalist lawmaker, said in Moscow that Ms Markovic would not travel to Serbia for the funeral because Serbian security guarantees were "insufficient." There was no immediate comment from her.