Milosevic's poison fears
Slobodan Milosevic wrote a six-page letter the day before he was found dead, claiming that traces of a “heavy drug” had been found in his blood and that he feared being poisoned, a legal aide to the former Yugoslav president said today.
Zdenko Tomanovic showed the letter to reporters at the UN tribunal, and complained that the court which had been trying Milosevic rejected the family’s request that a post mortem be conducted outside the Netherlands.
Milosevic was “seriously concerned” about being poisoned, Tomanovic said.
The letter, dated March 10, was addressed to the Russian Embassy. A one-line English language cover note asked the embassy to forward the letter to the Russian foreign minister.
Milosevic had appealed to the war crimes tribunal last December to be allowed to go to a heart clinic in Moscow for treatment. The request was denied. He repeated the request as late as last month.
Milosevic underwent frequent medical examinations by doctors and specialists appointed by the tribunal and by Serb doctors brought at his own request. Detailed reports were routinely submitted to the judges.
The letter alleged that a powerful drug used to treat leprosy or tuberculosis had been found in his blood during an examination on January 12, Tomanovic said.
“They would like to poison me,” the lawyer quoted Milosevic as telling him.
Reading a sentence from an English translation of the letter, Tomanovic said: “In any case, the persons who are giving me the drug for the treatment of leprosy surely cannot be treating me, and especially those persons from whom I defended my country in the war and who also have an interest in silencing me.”
The Belgrade lawyer described the drug as an antibiotic, but said he couldn’t remember the name. Milosevic had never knowingly taken such a drug, Tomanovic claimed.
Tomanovic said he saw the jailed Serb leader on Friday at 4:30pm. His body was found the next morning, and by 11am the letter was delivered to the Russian Embassy.
