Monday, March 20, 2006

Slobodan Milošević dies in custody at the Hague


On March 12, 2006, Slobodan Milošević, held in detention at the Hague on trial for geneocide and crimes against humanity, has died. His attorney immediately raised the possibility that he had been poisoned. He asked for an autopsy to be done in Russia, where Milošević's family is residing. Officials declined but allowed a Russian doctor to be present at the autopsy performed by a Dutch team. Preliminary results suggest that he died of heart failure. There seems to be no evidence of any drugs in his system.

Milošević, 64, had complained of his health and requested a stay in his trial for a trip to Russia for treatment. He suffered from high blood pressure. The link in the title to this blog entry is rather biased, calling Milošević "The Butcher of the Balkans" in the title. A number of the people interviewed take a surprisingly hard-line approach even to the man's death, being quoted as saying they will shed no tears. Take a look at Wikipedia's entry for a more balanced entry, here.

Marija Milošević, his daughter, is protesting her father's funeral in Serbia. The rest of the family apparently went along with laying him to rest there. She calls it "scandalous" and wants him exhumed to rebury him in Montenegro, the portion of the former Yugoslavia that did not "sell him out."

For a terrific website that covers the trial here

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