Slobodan Milosevic dies alone with history still demanding justice

The Observer, London

Slobodan Milosevic dies alone with history still demanding justice

Peter Beaumont, foreign affairs editor
Sunday March 12, 2006


In death as in life, Slobodan Milosevic, the 'butcher of the Balkans', created bitter division. The man who rose from obscurity to spread terror across the former Yugoslavia, until the world finally tired of his bloodshed, has left a final controversy that will linger long after him, stoked by his supporters: the manner of his dying.

Milosevic, who presided over wars and slaughter in which more than 250,000 people died, was found dead in his prison cell yesterday - cheating justice for a final time.

Within hours, the same followers who accused the international community and the United Nations war crimes tribunal of conspiring to frame an innocent man were suggesting, unbelievably, that the court that had expended so much time, energy and money on his trial had killed him.

Milosevic, 64, a depressive with a history of high blood pressure and chronic heart disease, was found 'lifeless' in bed by one of his guards at a UN prison near the Hague, where he was being tried on 66 counts of crimes against humanity, including genocide.

A spokesman for the tribunal said Milosevic appeared to have died of natural causes, adding that post mortem and toxicological examinations had been ordered despite opposition by Milosevic's family, who said they did not trust the examinations to be impartial. A second tribunal official said that there was 'no indication' of suicide.

Milosevic's closest supporters, including his family and lawyer, immediately cried foul.

His lawyer, Zdenko Tomanovic, said last night that Milosevic had feared he was being poisoned and had complained to the tribunal. Tomanovic demanded that any post mortem be held in Moscow with Serb medical staff present. The tribunal last night refused the request but announced that a Serbian doctor would be allowed to observe the autopsy already ordered.

Milosevic's brother Borislav claimed the tribunal had effectively killed its prisoner by refusing to let him go to Russia for treatment for a heart complaint. The tribunal had feared Milosevic would have fled if he was released.

Milosevic had been held in the same large luxury cell in the jail near sand dunes at the North Sea resort of Scheveningen, from which he had planned his defence, listened to Frank Sinatra CDs and chatted by telephone to his wife Mirjana since his trial at the Hague began in February 2002. The hearings had been repeatedly interrupted by his poor health.

Cardiologists treating Milosevic had warned him recently he was at risk from a life-threatening condition known as a hypertensive emergency, a surge in blood pressure that can damage the heart, kidneys and central nervous system.

He had complained of a buzzing in his ears and pressure behind his eyes as well as deep fatigue, all symptoms of his identified medical complaints, which had worsened under the pressure of preparing his own defence.

He had been checked regularly by doctors after his repeated complaints of illness, although the tribunal was unable to say last night when he was last medically examined.

His death is a crushing blow to the tribunal and to those who wanted to establish an authoritative historical record of the Balkan wars. Confirmation of Milosevic's death was delivered in a terse statement from the Hague: 'The guard immediately alerted the detention unit officer in command and the medical officer. The latter confirmed that Slobodan Milosevic was dead.' All inmates at the prison are checked by a guard every half hour.

Carla Del Ponte, the chief UN war crimes prosecutor, who was told of Milosevic's death half an hour after the discovery of his body, expressed regret and said she was convinced he would have been convicted. 'I also regret it for the victims, the thousands of victims who have been waiting for justice,' said Del Ponte, adding that enough evidence had been presented against Milosevic in his war crimes trial for him to be found guilty.

The former Yugoslav republics that Serb forces attacked under Milosevic were divided last night between celebrating his death and regretting he was not finally judged guilty for his crimes.President Mesic of Croatia, which fought Serb forces in 1991-92, said: 'It's a pity he did not live through the trial and get his deserved sentence.' A Croatian government statement summed up the views of many people in the Balkans: 'Several hundred thousand dead, millions of refugees, billions of euros of damage, dozens of destroyed towns, ethnic cleansing, genocide, those are all consequences of his policies.''It seems that God punished him already,' said Hajra Catic, of the association representing the mothers and widows of 8,000 Muslim men and boys massacred by Bosnian Serb forces in Srebrenica. Elected Serbian President in 1990, Milosevic ruled with an iron grip until his overthrow in 2000. Combining charm, cunning and ruthlessness, he led his countrymen to defeat in four wars, yet managed to turn his increasingly impoverished country's woes into personal victories that allowed him to hold on to power.

It was only in the Serbian capital Belgrade yesterday that there were many to eulogise his passing. 'My whole world around me crushed. I started crying when I heard the news. I am glad I lived in his time, as this type of man is rarely born', said Marija Bursac, 40, a biochemistry specialist.

For Marija and around 170,000 Kosovan Serbs who were forced to flee in 1999 after the arrival of an international force of troops, Slobodan Milosevic was a hero, someone who was prepared to defend them from their rivals, Kosovo's ethnic Albanians.

Olga, 70, another Kosovo refugee, was in constant tears after hearing the news. She said she had been following Milosevic's trial on TV and believed that if the world had been prepared to listen, there was enough evidence to prove his innocence.

'I wish we were all dead, and he was left alive to prove to the world he was right,' she said.·

Additional reporting from Belgrade by Dragana Nikolic Solomon
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