Milosevic’s wife on way to prison visit
Slobodan Milosevic’s wife left Belgrade today to visit her husband in a UN prison in the Netherlands where he is being held pending trial for atrocities in Kosovo.
Mirjana Markovic as seen off from the Yugoslav capital’s airport by her daughter-in-law, Milica Gajic. Flying with her was lawyer Dragoslav Ognjanovic. The two women hugged and waved as Markovic left the customs gate for the departure area
Markovic last week received permission to visit her husband for three days, but her movements in the Netherlands will be restricted to commuting to and from the seaside Scheveningen prison.
Markovic was granted a visa last Friday, after the Dutch government obtained a temporary waiver from a European Union travel ban for the Milosevic family and close associates.
Dutch authorities have promised to guard Markovic as best as they can.
Belgrade’s new, pro-democracy government extradited former Yugoslav President Milosevic on June 28. He is to stand trial before the UN war crimes tribunal on charges that include deportations, murders and persecution on ethnic or religious grounds of Kosovo Albanians in 1999. All carry a life sentence.
Markovic was Milosevic’s childhood sweetheart and closest confidante and aide. In Yugoslavia, she was nicknamed The Red Witch for her communist beliefs and Lady MacBeth for her sinister reputation of being ready to do anything for her husband and his career.
Milosevic’s trial is not expected to begin until next year and may last up to two years, during which he will remain at the Dutch prison near The Hague.
