Serbian Socialists question Hague version of Milosevic's death
BBC Monitoring Europe (Political) - March 11, 2006 Saturday

Excerpt from report by Belgrade-based B-92 TV on 11 March

[Announcer] While we are waiting for our correspondent in The Hague, let us take a look at a news conference held by the Socialist Party of Serbia [SPS] shortly after the news of Milosevic's death.

[Ivica Dacic, SPS senior official] [Word missing, probably the SPS] is calling on the Serbian state institutions to make a demand to the Hague tribunal that our experts should take part in the post mortem - our forensic scientists - because we doubt that the cause of death is natural.

Also, following an agreement with the family, it will be decided where the funeral will take place and whether there will be any commemorative gatherings, and the Socialist Party of Serbia will certainly hold a session of its executive and main committee this evening.

We believe that the whole state should bid farewell to the former president of Serbia and former president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in a dignified manner. We also believe that he should be buried in the Alley of Heroes [in Belgrade's Central Cemetery].

I do not know if this is the right place and time to pose questions, but if there are any please go ahead. [Passage omitted]

We believe that Slobodan Milosevic should be buried in his country, in Belgrade, in the Alley of Heroes, and if this be so, I think that his funeral should be a big political demonstration of support for the policy which he once led and still led [after ouster] in the interests of Serbia, the Serbian people and all Serbian citizens. [Passage omitted]

Well, in the latest case of [former Croatian Serb leader] Milan Babic and his suicide, it was publicly said that some kind of video surveillance was being carried out every half hour or so. It is absolutely impossible then for him [Milosevic] to lie dead for several hours, the way it was stated, and that nobody noticed it. But once again, we are demanding that our experts take part in the post mortem because we do not trust the Hague tribunal.

The Hague tribunal assumes responsibility for the murder of not only Slobodan Milosevic but many other Serbs who lost their lives in the Hague tribunal.

Source: B92 TV, Belgrade, in Serbian 1508 gmt 11 Mar 06

Copyright 2006 British Broadcasting Corporation
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