Milosevic's coffin on display in Serbian capital
BBC Monitoring Europe (Political) - March 16, 2006, Thursday

Excerpt from report by Belgrade-based private BKTV on 16 March

[Presenter] The coffin with the body of Slobodan Milosevic will be on display at the Museum of the Revolution from midday [1100 gmt] today.

[Passage omitted]

[Reporter] Well, the museum door will open in a few minutes and some 200 people who have gathered here to pay their respects to former Yugoslav and Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic will be able to enter the museum. One of the members of the organizing committee, Aleksandar Vulin, is here with me. Mr Vulin, could you tell us how this procession will look and for how much longer will citizens be able to see our president?

[Vulin] Well, President Milosevic's coffin will be on display, on a podium, state flags will be there, of course. He is a president [changes thought]; he was the president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic of Serbia for 13 years. Anything less than this would be dishonourable, would be a shame, it would not be worthy of him and us whose president he was and is. Citizens will march past the coffin, of course, in silence and with respect, visit their president and pay their last respects to him in that way. His body will be on display for two days here, at the Museum of the Revolution, which, of course, is not a coincidence, and, of course, the symbolism is of the right kind he is the continuation of the great and glorious revolution, and above all, this nations' desire for freedom.

[Passage omitted]

[Vulin] A big, massive and public farewell will be organized outside the federal parliament building [at 1100 gmt on Saturday 18 March]. We believe that citizens have the right to pay their respects, and the funeral will be held in Pozarevac not because there was no other venue, nor have we sought any favours from petty and miserable people such as [Belgrade Mayor Nenad] Bogdanovic and [Serbian President Boris] Tadic, people whose names will not go down in history, certainly not as the name of Slobodan Milosevic. This was his wish, and this is a wish his family respects, that he be buried in the place he liked the most.

[Reporter] Will his family members attend the funeral?

[Vulin] We expect them, we expect them and let us hope they will be able to come and we hope they will [words indistinct].

Source: BKTV, Belgrade, in Serbian 1155 gmt 16 Mar 06

Copyright 2006 British Broadcasting Corporation
Posted for Fair Use only.