WORLD / Europe

Russia doctor agrees Dutch autopsy
by Reuters
Updated: 2006-03-15 16:46

THE HAGUE - A Russian doctor who examined the autopsy of Slobodan Milosevic agreed with the conclusion that the former president had died of a heart attack but said treatment in Moscow could have saved him.

"We came to the (same) conclusion that was made by the local team ... We are satisfied with what we saw," Leo Bokeria, a director at Moscow's Bakulev Heart Surgery Center where Milosevic had wanted to go for treatment, told Reuters.

Bokeria was part of a team of Russian doctors that Russia sent to examine the results of the Dutch autopsy after Moscow said it did not trust the investigation into Milosevic's death.

Bokeria said he saw "nothing showing signs of suicide", but there remained questions over whether Milosevic received adequate care while standing trial at the U.N. tribunal.

"If the patient was investigated enough ... he would have still been alive today," he said on Wednesday.

Milosevic's family has accused the U.N. war crimes tribunal of murdering the former Serb strongman by refusing his request to travel to Russia for medical treatment.

A preliminary autopsy report showed Milosevic, who had a heart condition and high blood pressure, died of a heart attack and toxicology test results are due later this week.

A Dutch expert said blood tests taken just weeks before Milosevic died suggested the 64-year-old, faced with a possible life sentence if convicted, had knowingly taken harmful medicines to bolster his case to go to Russia for treatment.

The body of Milosevic was to be flown to Belgrade later on Wednesday for burial, according to Milosevic's lawyer.