Slobodan Milosevic to be buried in his hometown

Slobodan Milosevic to be buried in his hometown
ITAR Tass - 18.03.2006, 06.09

BELGRADE, March 18 (Itar-Tass) -- Slobodan Milosevic will be buried in his hometown of Pozarevac, 50 kilometers southeast of Belgrade, on Saturday.

The Socialist Party of Serbia has called on the country’s people to pay the last respects to their late leader. The Socialists say some 200,000 local residents and 40 foreign delegations may be present at the ceremony in Belgrade. The funeral in Pozarevac may gather 70,000 to 80,000, the town’s authorities have said.

At noon Moscow time Milosevic's body will be taken out of the Revolution Museum building, where it has lain in state for the past few days, and brought to the square in front of the Serbia-Montenegro parliament. The official farewell ceremony will begin at 14:00 Moscow time. The funeral motorcade will proceed to Pozarevac. At about 17:00 Moscow time the former Yugoslav leader will be buried in front of his home on a plot of land that belongs to his family.

None of Milosevic’s close relatives will be able to attend.

“The security guarantees the Serb authorities have given to the relatives of the late leader are so uncertain that the presence of any of them at the funeral is impossible,” the deputy leader of the Socialist Party of Serbia, Milorad Vucelic, appointed responsible for organizing the funeral, has told the media.