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U.N. tribunal: Tests show heart attack

Preliminary findings from an autopsy of Slobodan Milosevic by Dutch experts reveal two heart conditions.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands - A heart attack killed Slobodan Milosevic in his jail cell, the U.N. war crimes tribunal said, citing preliminary findings from Dutch pathologists who conducted a nearly eight-hour autopsy Sunday on the former Yugoslavian leader.

The tribunal said pathologists had determined that "Milosevic's cause of death was a "myocardial infarction"' - a medical term for heart attack.

Found dead in his cell Saturday morning, Milosevic, 64, had suffered from heart ailments and high blood pressure, and his bad health caused numerous breaks in his four-year, $200-million trial before the tribunal.

The tribunal said a toxicological exam to determine the cause of the heart attack "will still be carried out" and that "the final report will be issued as soon as possible."

Some wondered if suicide might have been an out for the man accused of causing wars that killed more than 200,000 people during the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. A legal adviser said Milosevic feared he was being poisoned.

Earlier, the chief U.N. prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, had said claims that Milosevic committed suicide or was poisoned were "just rumors."

"You have the choice between normal, natural death and suicide," she told reporters at the tribunal, where Milosevic had been standing trial for more than four years on 66 counts of war crimes and genocide in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo during Yugoslavia's violent breakup.

Milosevic's body was to be delivered to his family by today, according to the tribunal.

In Serbia, Milosevic loyalists burned candles in memory of their fallen hero at branches of his Socialist Party. Elderly women sobbed and kissed his photographs adorned with black cloth, while nationalists signed condolence books declaring him a defender of "Serb honor."

But U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Milosevic "one of the most malign forces in Europe in quite a long time."

"Some feel that they wish there had been the opportunity to bring him to justice and to have the final verdict of history be in the courts, but I think the final verdict of history about Milosevic is pretty clear," Rice said.

And while Milosevic's trial ended with his death, his regime can still be tried.

The U.N.'s highest court is hearing a civil lawsuit by Bosnia against the state of Serbia and Montenegro - the first of its kind. Bosnia alleges that Serbia and Montenegro - the successor state of Milosevic's defunct Yugoslavia - is responsible for the genocide of Bosnian Muslims. Bosnia concluded 10 days of arguments before the International Court of Justice on Tuesday, and Serbia has equal time to respond.

The ruling will be seen by many as a verdict against the man who led Yugoslavia during the 1992-1995 Bosnia war.

Legally, Milosevic died an innocent man. But if the judges find Serbia guilty of genocide, Milosevic's responsibility becomes an inescapable, albeit indirect, conclusion, said Michael P. Scharf, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

"That will be the historic determination of Milosevic's guilt, even though it's not a criminal trial," he said.

In the Netherlands, a pathologist sent by Serbia observed the autopsy at the Netherlands Forensic Institute, an agency of the Dutch Justice Ministry.

Tribunal spokeswoman Alexandra Milenov said the autopsy revealed Milosevic had been suffering from two heart conditions. Asked if poisoning could have caused the heart attack, Milenov said it was too early to draw conclusions.

Outside the tribunal's offices, Milosevic's legal adviser, Zdenko Tomanovic, showed reporters a letter that he said the former leader wrote the day before his death. It claimed he was being poisoned with drugs that were neutralizing his medication for high blood pressure and a chronic heart condition. Milosevic had earlier appealed unsuccessfully to be allowed to go to Moscow for treatment.

Information from the Washington Post was used in this report.

[Last modified March 13, 2006, 00:59:12]