Milosevic ‘died of a heart attack’
The UN war crimes tribunal in the Hague released a statement saying it had received “a brief summary of the autopsy results. According to the pathologists, Slobodan Milosevic’s cause of death was a myocardial infarction”.
Dutch pathologists carried out an eight-hour examination on the former Yugoslav president’s body yesterday after he was found dead in his cell on Saturday.
The statement came after a day of speculation on the cause of death that ranged from ill health to poison.
Milosevic, branded by critics the Butcher of the Balkans, had suffered from heart ailments and high blood pressure, and his bad health caused numerous breaks in his four-year €245 million trial.
Milosevic’s legal adviser said the former president had feared he was being poisoned. He showed reporters a six-page letter Milosevic had written the day before his death claiming traces of a “heavy drug” were found in his blood. The letter was addressed to the Russian Embassy asking for help.
Dutch state broadcaster NOS, citing an unidentified “adviser” to the UN tribunal, said traces of a drug used to treat leprosy and tuberculosis had been found in a blood sample taken from Milosevic in recent months. It said the drug, which it did not name, could have had a “neutralising effect” on his other medications.
Milosevic had unsuccessfully appealed to the tribunal to be allowed to go to a heart clinic in Moscow for treatment.
The body will be released to his family today, however the family has yet to decide where to bury Milosevic.
His brother Borislav suggested he should be buried in his native Serbia.
But the former president’s wife, Mirjana Markovic, and their son, Marko, are wanted on international warrants for abuse of power, and could be arrested if they return to Serbia for a funeral.
They want Milosevic buried in Russia, where they live.
