MILOSEVIC TO BE BURIED IN BELGRADE; RIFAMPICIN FOUND IN RECENT BLOOD TESTS
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - March 13, 2006

A Dutch toxicologist has confirmed that he found traces of an unprescribed drug in Slobodan Milosevic's blood earlier this year. Donald Uges, a toxicologist from University Hospital of Groningen, said he found traces of Rifampicin, a drug that "makes the liver extremely active," so that other medications would break down very quickly and lose their effectiveness.

Rifampicin is used with other drugs to treat tuberculosis. It also can be used alone to treat certain bacterial infections or asymptomatic carriers of a type of meningitis.

The drug affects enzymes in the body to speed metabolism of a host of other drugs, meaning higher doses of those other medications may be needed to compensate. It also can cause liver damage.

A legal aide to Milosevic, meanwhile, said today that Milosevic would be buried in Belgrade. Zdenko Tomanovic said Milosevic's remains will be claimed by his son Marko either Monday or Tuesday and that a Belgrade funeral was the wish of the family.

The tribunal on Sunday said a heart attack killed Milosevic, according to preliminary findings from Dutch pathologists.

However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow does not trust the autopsy and wants its own doctors to examine the body. "The Russian side has the right not to trust those who are currently carrying out an examination by experts in connection with the death of Slobodan Milosevic," Lavrov said. "In a situation where they did not trust us [over guarantees that Milosevic would be returned], we also have the right not to trust those who are conducting this expert examination," he said, noting that Russia had asked if its doctors could be present at the postmortem and was preparing to send doctors to The Hague.

Lavrov, confirmed that in a letter to the Russian Foreign Ministry Milosevic had expressed concern over his medical treatment in The Hague. Milosevic had appealed to the tribunal last December to be allowed to go to a heart clinic in Moscow for treatment. The request was denied. He repeated the request as recently as February 24th.

"In the letter Milosevic expressed concern that, in his view, some of the methods of treatment that were being used were having a pernicious effect on his health," the Russian minister told journalists on today.

Lavrov also confirmed that Slobodan Milosevic's letter, dated 8 March, was only received yesterday. "I don't know what caused such a hold-up," he said.

In his words, in the letter Milosevic appealed to the Russian government to again raise the issue of Russia's readiness to receive him for treatment.

"Such an appeal was also made earlier. In response, Russia gave The Hague Tribunal 100-per-cent state guarantees that, after undergoing a course of treatment, Milosevic would return to The Hague," he recalled.

Tomanovic, told the media that Milosevic feared he was being poisoned. He showed reporters the six-page letter Milosevic wrote to Russian officials claiming that traces of drugs he had never knowingly taken had been found in his blood.

Tomanovic said Milosevic was "seriously concerned" he was being poisoned. "They would like to poison me," he quoted Milosevic as telling him.

He cited a Jan. 12 Dutch medical report which showed traces of medication used against leprosy and tuberculosis, but said Milosevic had never knowingly taken them.

Uges, whom the tribunal asked to confirm the findings in a test in February, said that he found the same antibiotic in Milosevic's blood weeks later.

Every medicament that Milosevic took was administered by the prison dispensary in the presence of the prison guards who made a note in the record every time medicine was administered. Milosevic was not allowed to take medicine on his own, and his cell was under 24-hour video surveillance.

A Milosevic associate who said he spoke to him Friday described Milosevic as defiant hours before his death. "He told me, 'Don't you worry: They will not destroy me or break me. I shall defeat them all,'" Milorad Vucelic, a Socialist Party official, said Saturday in Belgrade.

The Hague Tribunal will hold its final hearing for the Milosevic case on Tuesday at 9:00 AM in Courtroom I where they are expected to terminate the proceedings.

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