Serbian President blames tribunal for Milosevic death
Serbian President Boris Tadic today said the UN war crimes tribunal is responsible for Slobodan Milosevic’s death, but added that it would not hamper Serbia’s future cooperation with the court.
“Undoubtedly, Milosevic had demanded a higher level of health care,” Tadic said. “That right should have been granted to all war crimes defendants.”
Former Serbian President Milosevic died on Saturday of a heart attack in his prison cell near the tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands.
He had recently demanded to be temporarily released to go to Moscow for treatment after years of suffering from heart problems and high blood pressure.
But the judges refused, ruling that even with Russian guarantees to send him back the court, they were afraid he would not return.
“Unfortunately, today we are getting messages from the tribunal that they are not responsible,” Tadic said. “I think they are responsible for what happened.”
Tadic, whose Democratic Party led a popular revolt that toppled Milosevic in 2000, said that despite “the lack of credibility” the tribunal has among Serbs, Serbia will try and hand over more war crimes suspects, including top fugitive Ratko Mladic.
Milosevic’s death “won’t jeopardise our cooperation with the tribunal".
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