Today, one of the most revered and hated figures in the Balkans passed away in his cell in the Netherlands while he awaited trial in the Hague for war crimes committed in the Balkans. Slobodan Milosevic died Saturday, 11 March 2006, of an apparant heart attack. He had been appealing to the court to go to Russia where his family is in self-imposed exile for treatment and accused the Hague in letters to Russia of poisioning him. Autopsy reports show that this was untrue but two weeks before his death, there were traces of medicine that would have prevented his blood pressure medicine from effectively working. It is thought that Milosevic may have been taking a secondary drug to counter medicine Dutch doctors were giving him for his blood pressure in order to strengthen his argument that they were not treating him properly. Milosevic first refused to take any medication and later was forced to take the medicine under supervison.
Feelings in the Balkans are divided over Milosevic's passing. Tens of thousands are said to have marched in Serbia in his funeral procession while other anti-Slobo Serbian youths threw water balloons during the procession. His son and wife were not in attendance as they are wanted for abuse of power in Serbia and the government planned on seizing their passports upon entry into the country from Russia.
