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Probe shows Milosevic died natural death

Posted on: Wednesday, 5 April 2006, 08:31 CDT

By Nicola Leske

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A final investigation into the death of Slobodan Milosevic showed that the former Yugoslav president died of a heart attack with no sign of foul play involved, Dutch prosecutors said on Wednesday.

Milosevic was found dead in his cell at the detention unit in The Hague on March 11, just months before a verdict was expected in his trial for war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s.

There had been speculation over whether Milosevic had deliberately tried to exacerbate his condition to strengthen his case for release or whether he had been poisoned, as the 64-year-old suggested in a letter to Moscow the day before he died.

"The public prosecutor has concluded that Milosevic died a natural death. There is not a single indication that the death was the result of foul play," prosecutors said in a statement.

The tribunal confirmed in March that traces of rifampicin -- a leprosy and tuberculosis drug that would have neutralized Milosevic's medicines for his existing health conditions -- were found in a January 12 blood test.

However, initial toxicological studies done during the autopsy of Milosevic's body showed no traces of poison or of other substances that might have led to his death.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) said in a statement it welcomed the prosecutor's final findings.

"The report ... formally closes the independent investigation of the Dutch authorities into the death of Slobodan Milosevic," tribunal president Fausto Pocar said.

As the investigation confirmed Milosevic died of natural causes, the court's own internal inquiry would focus on the medical treatment given to him while in the tribunal's detention center, it said.

The tribunal expects to conclude its investigation shortly.

Initial autopsy results had also shown that Milosevic died of a heart attack.

"In keeping with its earlier report, the National Forensic Institute has now definitely concluded that the cause of death was a heart attack," prosecutors said.

NO TRACE OF POISONING

Final toxicological studies also confirmed there were no traces of poisoning or substances which could have triggered a heart attack.

Vladimir Krsljanin of the Sloboda association which lobbied for the release of Milosevic told Reuters the finding was "full of hypocrisy because it deliberately bypasses the essential issue here and that is criminal negligence."

"It should be clear to a child," he said. "How could the final investigation be reduced only to the immediate cause of death?"

The prosecutor said that although non-prescribed medicines were found in Milosevic's cell in December 2005, no such medicines were found in his cell the day after he died.

Milosevic had suffered from high blood pressure and a heart condition, which according to the initial autopsy explained his heart attack.

One medical expert who tested the January blood samples said he believed Milosevic knowingly took rifampicin to improve his case for going to Russia, where his wife, son and brother live.

The court had denied a December request by Milosevic to travel to Russia for heart treatment on concerns that he might not return and ruled he could receive the best possible treatment in the Netherlands.

(Additional reporting by Beti Bilandzic)

Source: REUTERS

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