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Tests show Milosevic took wrong drugs before death

Posted on: Monday, 13 March 2006, 06:53 CST

By Nicola Leske

THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Blood tests showed Slobodan Milosevic took drugs to worsen his health and bolster his case for treatment in Russia, a Dutch medical expert said on Monday.

Groningen University toxicologist Donald Uges was speaking to Reuters as the Yugoslav ex-president's body was due to be released to his family.

A preliminary autopsy report on Sunday showed the 64-year-old Milosevic died of a heart attack, but toxicology tests were still ongoing to establish its cause.

Uges said tests he conducted two weeks ago on Milosevic's blood showed traces of rifampicin -- a drug against leprosy and tuberculosis that would have made other medicines ineffective.

"I don't think he took his medicines for suicide -- only for his trip to Moscow ... that is where his friends and family are. I think that was his last possibility to escape the Hague," Uges said. "I am so sure there is no murder."

Last month, the tribunal rejected a request by Milosevic -- branded the "Butcher of the Balkans" over the conflicts in the 1990s -- to go to Moscow for specialist medical care. His widow, brother and son all live in Russia. A verdict was expected in months.

Milosevic's lawyer said the funeral was to be held in Belgrade and that Milosevic's son Marko would pick up the body on Monday or Tuesday. Milosevic's widow faces arrest if she returns to Serbia.

The autopsy on the body of Milosevic, who suffered from a heart condition and high blood pressure, was conducted by Dutch scientists and attended by Serbian pathologists. Serbia said the autopsy was very professional. The whole procedure was filmed.

A spokeswoman for the U.N. tribunal said it was too early to say whether the heart attack might have been caused by poisoning or whether suicide could be ruled out, noting that an inquiry ordered by court president Fausto Pocar was continuing.

Former Croatian Serb leader Milan Babic committed suicide at the detention center last week.

Milosevic, found dead in bed in his cell on Saturday, faced a possible life sentence over charges on 66 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes involving conflicts in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo as Yugoslavia imploded in the 1990s.

TOXICOLOGICAL TESTS

The pathologists said Milosevic died of a "myocardial infarction" that could be explained by two heart conditions he suffered from, the U.N. tribunal said.

A myocardial infarction is usually caused by a blockage in one of the coronary arteries that supplies blood to the heart.

Cardiologists treating Milosevic had warned he was at risk of a hypertensive emergency, when surges in blood pressure can damage the heart, kidneys and central nervous system.

Milosevic's lawyer said on Sunday his client had written to Russia asking for help a day before his death as he believed he had been given the wrong drugs -- including some for leprosy and tuberculosis -- in a bid to silence him.

The Russian foreign ministry said on Monday it had received the letter and said Milosevic's brother Borislav, former Yugoslav ambassador to Moscow, had asked a group of Russian doctors to fly to the Hague to take part in the autopsy.

Leo Bokeria, head of the cardiology center in Moscow where Milosevic had wanted to be treated, told Russia TV he was not convinced that poisoning provoked the heart attack.

"It's unlikely. From what was said the day he died, that he was found lifeless, it looked very much like a very sudden death from heart failure," Bokeria said.

NO STATE BURIAL

Milosevic's widow Mira Markovic visited him at the detention center until 2003, when she fled Serbia for Russia to avoid arrest on charges of abusing her power.

Serbian media reported that Markovic, son Marko and daughter Marija did not agree where Milosevic should be buried. Both Markovic and Marko were said to want him to be buried in Moscow. Marija lives in Montenegro, where Milosevic's parents came from.

A Dutch foreign ministry spokesman said the embassy in Moscow had not received a request from Markovic for a visa.

Serbian President Boris Tadic said Milosevic should not get a state burial and he would not grant an amnesty to Markovic.

Belgrade is under pressure to arrest six remaining war crimes fugitives as it moves toward European Union membership, among them Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his military commander Ratko Mladic, both accused of genocide.

Apart from a vigil by about 100 mostly elderly supporters at Milosevic's old party office in Belgrade on Saturday, few in Serbia showed emotion over the death of Milosevic, who ruled with an iron grip from 1990 until his overthrow in 2000.

By contrast, hundreds in Belgrade placed wreaths on the grave of reformist President Zoran Djindjic, who ousted Milosevic and who was assassinated three years ago.

(With additional reporting by Alexandra Hudson in Amsterdam)

Source: REUTERS

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