Milosevic to be held for two more months
Belgrade’s District Court today extended former President Slobodan Milosevic’s stay in jail for two more months.
Milosevic was arrested April 1 on suspicion of corruption and abuse of power during his 13 years in power. The Belgrade court ordered him detained for a month, pending investigations.
Even ahead of any official ruling, Serbian television last week reported that his detention had been extended. The network, citing unidentified court sources, said the decision had been made because of fears that "Milosevic could flee the country or influence potential witnesses".
Milosevic is being held in a specially refurbished cell in Belgrade’s Central Prison but his lawyer, his Socialist Party and other allies have claimed that conditions there are inadequate and threaten the former president’s health.
Milosevic, 59, suffers from high blood pressure and has complained of chest pains while in custody. Earlier in April, he was rushed to a military hospital after a similar episode but was returned to jail after three days, after military physicians pronounced him fit.
The former Yugoslav president is also wanted by the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague which indicted him for alleged atrocities committed against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, the southern province of Serbia, Yugoslavia’s dominant republic.
