Supporters pay tribute to Milosevic on first anniversary of his death

SUPPORTERS of Slobodan Milosevic marked the first anniversary of his death with wreaths and speeches at the weekend, as Serbia continues to grapple with the consequences of his ruinous rule.

Officials of the formerly Milosevic-led Socialist Party gathered at his grave in the eastern town of Pozarevac, praising the man who led Serbia through several wars and ended up facing the UN war crimes court for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.

‘‘Milosevic was an honourable man who worked for the benefit of Serbia and its people,’’ said supporter Bogoljub Bjelica.

Milosevic’s lifeless body was found the morning of March 11 in his jail cell and the exact time of death was never determined.

He died just weeks before an expected end of his trial for alleged war crimes, including genocide, during the wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo. He had been extradited to the international tribunal by pro-democracy parties that ousted him in 2000.

‘‘Milosevic’s policies led Serbia to a horrible situation. We’re still dealing with the devastating effects of his legacy,’’ said Jelena Markovic, spokeswoman for the Democratic Party of the current President Boris Tadic.

As Milosevic’s unrepentant supporters glorified the ex-president, Tadic was busy dealing with one of the effects of his rule — attending UN-mediated talks in Vienna, with the representatives of ethnic Albanian separatists from Kosovo, the southern province whose secession Milosevic tried to prevent with brutal force.