Newsmaker

Milosevic dies at The Hague prison

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-03-11 21:09

BRUSSELS -- Former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic has died at the UN war crimes tribunal's detention center in The Hague, the UN tribunal confirmed on Saturday

Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic enters a court room of the war crimes tribunal in The Hague in this August 31, 2004 file photo. [Reuters]

Reports from The Hague said that Milosevic was found dead earlier Saturday in his cell at the detention center.

Milosevic, 64, had been on trial at The Hague war crimes tribunal since 2002.

Milosevic had suffered a heart disease and high blood pressure which frequently interrupted his trial.

The UN war crimes tribunal last month refused Milosevic's request for a temporary release to undergo medial treatment in Moscow.

In a trial that dragged on for four years, Milosevic faced more than 60 charges of war crimes including genocide for his role in the Balkan wars that tore the Yugoslav federation apart in the 1990s.

An internal court memo published earlier this week suggests that Milosevic had around 40 hours of court time left to finish presenting his defense case.

Milosevic, born on August 20, 1941, took office in 1990 as the first president of Serbia and got his second term in 1992.

He was elected president of the former Yugoslav in July 1997, and stepped down in 2000 after losing out to opposition party candidate in presidential election.

In April 2001, Milosevic was arrested by Serbian police on several charges, including power abusing and complicity. He, then, was extradited to the UN tribunal in June for his role in the civil war of former Yugoslavia.

Milosevic's trial, which began four years ago, was repeatedly adjourned because of the defendant's health problems, namely high blood pressure, a heart condition and fatigue.

Milosevic had also complained that he suffered from head and ear aches.

Milosevic, who refused to accept a lawyer, was defending himself against a total of 66 counts for crimes allegedly committed in the wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo during Yugoslavia's breakup in the 1990s.