Die-hard supporters brave the snow to pay tribute to Milosevic

THE coffin holding Slobodan Milosevic’s body went on display yesterday to die-hard supporters.

A large framed colour photograph of Milosevic was placed in front of the casket inside Belgrade's Museum of Revolution, a gallery once devoted to former Yugoslav dictator Josip Broz Tito.

Dozens of mourners stormed into the museum once it opened, shouting "Slobo! Slobo!" But after the initial chaos, a line formed with people passing by the closed casket with heads bowed, some sobbing, others making the sign of the cross. Those waiting outside lit candles.

The turnout was far lower than organisers' predictions of tens of thousands, and nowhere near the huge crowds Milosevic commanded in his heyday.

Milosevic died last weekend at a UN detention centre in the Netherlands, near the war crimes tribunal that was trying him on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity.

He will be buried tomorrow in the grounds of the family estate in the industrial town of Pozarevac.

The UN war crimes tribunal ordered the release of confidential trial records to investigators probing Milosevic's death in detention.

The tribunal said the documents had been kept sealed to protect Milosevic's privacy, but the judges decided to make them available to Dutch authorities and to an internal inquiry by the tribunal for the sake of "unimpeded access" to information about his health.

Questions still surround Milosevic's death. His son, Marko, says he was poisoned, while the tribunal says he had a heart attack, although toxicology results have not been announced. Russia says Milosevic did not receive proper treatment.

Milosevic's followers, most of whom were elderly, stood in silence along the cobblestone path leading to the museum entrance. Some sobbed quietly; many clutched red roses the symbol of Milosevic's Socialist Party.

Milivoje Zivkovic, 81, limped his way up to the museum with a cane to pay tribute to "the man who loved his country more than any other Serb".

"It is insane that such a Serb hero, the best of all, is gone," said Mirko Lekic, 62, a chef who said he "cried like a baby" when Milosevic's death was announced.

Milorad Vucelic, the Socialist Party deputy president, who organised yesterday's viewing, said he expected Milosevic's widow, Mirjana Markovic, to arrive today from Moscow.

Ms Markovic, who lives in Russia in self-imposed exile, has indicated she would not come until all charges against her for alleged abuse of power during Milosevic's reign were dropped.

Milosevic's body will be taken tomorrow to Pozarevac for private burial beneath his favourite linden tree, his party comrades said. The city council, dominated by Milosevic allies, voted unanimously to allow the unusual arrangements.

The Socialists, ousted from power along with Milosevic in 2000, had wanted a funeral with state honours.

Although Milosevic's followers hold municipal power in Pozarevac, Belgrade is dominated by the pro-Western Democratic Party led by President Boris Tadic a bloc determined to avoid anything that could be seen as legitimising Milosevic or his policies.