Milosevic feared he was being poisoned: lawyer

[951-Riverside]

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Former Yugoslav leader
Slobodan Milosevic feared he was being poisoned in his detention cell in
The Hague, his lawyer Zdenko Tomanovic said on Saturday hours after the tribunal announced Milosevic's death.


"Today, I have filed an official request to the tribunal to have the autopsy carried out in Moscow, having in mind his claims yesterday that he was being poisoned in the jail," Tomanovic told reporters in The Hague.

Acting on a request from Milosevic, Tomanovic said he had made a request for protection for his client to the Russian embassy in The Netherlands and to the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow.

"I demanded protection for Slobodan Milosevic over his claims that he was being poisoned. I still haven't received any reply and that's all I have to say at this time," the lawyer said.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060311/ts_nm/warcrimes_milosevic_poison_dc

[Warren Stupidity]

1. Saddam ought to watch his meals too. nt.

[Name removed]

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[hang a left]

2. What is the story on Slobodan Milosevic?

Was he really a war criminal? Was he a scape goat?

[Odin2005]

3. A bit of both.

He didn't start the Balkan conflict, Croat and Bosnian nationalists started the violence. But instead of trying to mitigate the conflict, Milosevic wipped up Serbian nationalists into a maniacal frenzy.

[Name removed]

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[geek tragedy]

10. Spare me the Saint Slobo routine.

The man fanned the flames of hatred and genocide. Thousands died and were raped because of his demagoguery.

Defended his country my ass. Same kind of bullshit used to defend Saddam and Stalin.

[Name removed]

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[Endangered Specie]

16. We know this...

Europe's history is just as 'colorful'.

[daleo]

13. He was like Bush then

"...fanned the flames of hatred and genocide."

[Ben Ceremos]

27. And Bush.

[RDU Socialist]

22. which part of europe do you observe?

the man slaughtered groups for being ethnically different than his "pure" Serbian race, murdered his own people by the century-fold. You are almost defending this Stalinist piece of crap as some kind of nationalist icon, when he's nothing but garbage.

[Name removed]

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[NYC]

4. I would expect an autopsy to be done in any case.

Not just because Milosevic thought he was being poisoned.

[tabasco]

5. Glad to hear it!

He lived his final days in paranoid fear.

[stepnw1f]

6. It Was Clinton's Penis

[geek tragedy]

7. The list of suspects numbers in the hundreds of thousands.

Lots of people had plenty of reason to see him dead.

He won't be missed.

[OKNancy]

8. I was going to post:

"Whatever"

[sandrakae]

14. Why should we give a fuck about this guy?.

Let him burn in hell and lets move on. I am sick of seeing his ugly murdering mug on the home page of every major news site.

[laundry_queen]

15. As much of a scum as he was...

If he was being poisoned then someone needs to find out who/what/where. IMO, IF (and that's a very big if) he was being poisoned, then it was more likely to shut him up, than any sort of revenge against a monster type deal.
I just watched a documentary (I think on CBC) on the pervasive use of poison in Russian politics. It focused a lot on the poisoning of the Ukrainian president. It was chilling. Next time it might not be someone who we think deseverves it.

[sandrakae]

19. He had a bad heart and high blood pressure.

[tritsofme]

17. Milosevic is still dead.

Its a shame he died in such comfortable quarters.

[PATRICK]

18. Absolute lack of curiosity

is even more interesting than the fact that his comrade had just committed suicide shortly before. Napoleon made the same complaint though poison was not likely needed, just a lack of haute cuisine and deteriorating health.

But not a peep, not an ounce of curiosity is stirred in this Gilded Age of Coincidence. Now the autopsy might be in the hands of a third party who could use the information gleaned to its own interest? Not a huh? or "duh" or "doh" from the doughbrains in journalism.

If they spent more time investigating and less rolling out the liturgical vestments and ritual books of funereal orations, eulogies and memorials they might actually find doing their primary job(supposedly truth seeking) to be more lucrative and fulfilling than being the priesthood of public peace of mind.

Of course they will say they made the routine checks like calling the authorities for the official word and discussing the event at the bar with their fellow journalists while ogling the waitress or maybe wait for that reliable inside report from the secretive, lying SOB's at the WH or their international partners and counterparts.

Now Saddam knows what he can expect and isn't likely to be a long incarceration or public execution.

[geek tragedy]

20. Oh, I strongly suspect that he was assassinated.

The problem is that there are two groups of people:

1) Slobo's enemies; and

2) Slobo's former allies whom he could rat out.

Many, many suspects.

Similarly, if Saddam dies mysteriously it could be the Americans, the French, the Russians, the Chinese, the Brits, the Kurds, the Shiites, the Saudis, the Kuwaitis, the Iranians, or former regime members.

[RDU Socialist]

21. and they would have been able to get into the Hague how?

not everything needs to be a conspiracy theory. People die, not every death in the world is murder.

[geek tragedy]

23. Possibly, yes.

However, I'm always suspicious of early deaths when so many have an interest in seeing the person dead.

[RDU Socialist]

25. the Hague wanted him alive to make an example of him

they kept him under strict guard. On the BBC members of the Hague seemed genuinely annoyed with the fact this son of a bitch is dead because his guilty verdict was really close and some kind of legal designation of war criminal was going to be put to his name to go along with the popular (and absolutely correct) designation of the same.

[geek tragedy]

26. "If anything in this life is certain, if history has taught us anything,

it is that you can kill anyone."

Michael Corleone, GFII.

[Ben Ceremos]

28. What medical science teaches us

is that incarceration and isolation produce stress. Coupled with a trial and the necessity of mounting a defense, and with Mr.Milosevic's bad heart and high blood pressure, this level of stress would be sufficient to cause his death. 4 years in Den Haag is no picnic, though it is considerably better than a Serbska rape garage...If his life teaches us anything, it is that opportunism carries great risks.