Milosevic 'died of heart attack' | BBC

[Ediacara]

Milosevic 'died of heart attack'

Preliminary results from the autopsy conducted on Slobodan Milosevic indicate he died of a heart attack, sources at The Hague tribunal say.

Official results from the examination are expected within an hour.

The former Yugoslav President was found dead on Saturday in the Netherlands, where he was on trial for war crimes.

More at the BBC

[acmavm]

1. Whatever. There's more stories flying around about his cause of death

that we'll never know what really happened.

I mean, if he was done away with, the doers will make damn sure we never know it. Now, I can swallow the heart attack thing. Especially since there were traces of drugs in his blood that counteracted his blood pressure medicine.

[Ediacara]

3. Well, this is the BBC

And he did have heart disease. I don't find this suspect at all... And why would anyone want to kill him before the trial concluded?

[Redstone]

9. Because he was an evil, twisted excuse for a human being. LOTS of

people could have been impatient enough to hurry his trip to that special corner of Hell that's been reserved for him for years...many, many people had families butchered on his orders.

Redstone

[Ediacara]

12. Ya, but would they have had access?

[OKNancy]

14. He could have just as easily done it himself to

avoid the humiliation of conviction. It wouldn't be the first time.

[DemExpat]

17. His last expression of contempt for the Court.....do himself in

and complain beforehand that he feared being poisoned.

Dutch news programs seem to be hinting of this possibility.

DemEx

[reorg]

32. conspiracy theories, anyone? n/t

[reorg]

29. why would anyone want to kill him before the trial concluded?

Because the prosecution failed to present convincing evidence and Milosevic held up quite well ... as everyone knows who was watching.

Trial coverage here:

http://hague.bard.edu/video.html

[OKNancy]

2. AP story

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060312/ap_on_re_eu/milosevic

U.N. Official: Milosevic Had Heart Attack By ANTHONY DEUTSCH, Associated



THE HAGUE, Netherlands - A heart attack killed Slobodan Milosevic in his jail cell, according to preliminary findings from Dutch pathologists who conducted a nearly eight-hour autopsy on the former Yugoslav leader Sunday, an official at the U.N. war crimes tribunal said.



The official, who agreed to discuss the autopsy only on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information, commented after a day of speculation on the cause of death that swirled from ill health to suicide to poison.

A tribunal spokeswoman said the court had no immediate comment on the official's report.

Found dead in his cell Saturday morning, the 64-year-old Milosevic had suffered from heart ailments and high blood pressure, and his bad health caused numerous breaks in his four-year, $200 million trial before the tribunal.

[IndianaGreen]

4. What about the traces of leprosy drugs found, as reported by BBC?

How thourough was this "official" autopsy, and will the Milosovich family request an independent inquiry?

Milosovich had been dead for hours before his body was found.

Who had been watching him?

This smells as much as the death of Rudolf Hess just before he was to become free from Spandau (it was feared he would expose members of the royal family in collusion with Hitler).

[Ediacara]

6. We'll know in an hour I guess...

This is the BBC's 12 minute old scoop, they say the full autopsy report will be released within an hour. I suspect they will address the poisoning story since that was all over the news a few hours ago...

[IndianaGreen]

5. This was the SECOND autopsy on Milosevich!

The president of the U.N. tribunal, Fausto Pocar, said he ordered the autopsy after a Dutch coroner failed Saturday to establish the cause of death. A pathologist sent by Serbia observed the procedure at the Netherlands Forensic Institute, an agency of the Dutch Justice Ministry.

Outside the tribunal's offices, Milosevic's legal adviser showed reporters a six-page letter that he said the former leader wrote the day before his death claiming traces of a powerful drug used to treat leprosy or tuberculosis had been found in his bloodstream.

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

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/ats-ap_top11mar12,1,4922448.story?coll=la-ap-topnews-headlines&ctrack=1&cset=true

[OKNancy]

7. That's also in the AP article I posted

I wouldn't jump to any rash speculation at this point.

[Ediacara]

8. So Milosevic claims that he had the drugs, but no autopsy has shown that?

Talk about spin.... Like I said, we'll know in an hour.

[IndianaGreen]

10. Traces were found in blood sample taken a few months ago

A Dutch state broadcaster, NOS, said later that an adviser to the tribunal confirmed such a drug was found in a blood sample taken in recent months from Milosevic. The report said the adviser, who was not identified, said the drug could have had a "neutralizing effect" on Milosevic's other medications.

Doctors found traces of the drug when they were searching for an answer to why Milosevic's medication for high blood pressure was not working, the NOS report said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/ats-ap_top11mar12,1,4922448.story?coll=la-ap-topnews-headlines&ctrack=1&cset=true

[HuffleClaw]

11. wow

"failed Saturday to establish the cause of death." ? so, this is a new and improved autopsy they are doing now?

[DemExpat]

21. The first was done by a local coroner, the second

carried out by a forensic coroner with a Serbian and Russian coroner as witnesses. It also was vieotaped.
Acoording to latest Dutch news.

DemEx

[IndianaGreen]

13. Some more info on Milosevich prior medical condition

Cardiologists treating Milosevic had warned him recently he was at risk from a life-threatening condition known as a hypertensive emergency, a surge in blood pressure that can damage the heart, kidneys and central nervous system.

He had complained of a buzzing in his ears and pressure behind his eyes as well as deep fatigue, all symptoms of his identified medical complaints, which had worsened under the pressure of preparing his own defence.

He had been checked regularly by doctors after his repeated complaints of illness, although the tribunal was unable to say last night when he was last medically examined.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1729174,00.html

[bluestateguy]

15. You all don't know how much this has preoccupied me for the last 3 days

Any spring training ball games on tonight?

[Boojatta]

16. Is this justice, your honor?

Stalin didn't get an autopsy. They embalmed Stalin. Why couldn't they have embalmed Milosevic and sold the body to the highest bidder? They ruined a perfectly good corpse.

[Clara T]

18. Update 14: Report: Milosevic's Blood Had Drug Traces

Update 14: Report: Milosevic's Blood Had Drug Traces
03.12.2006, 02:17 PM

Traces of a drug used to treat leprosy and tuberculosis were found in a blood sample taken in recent months from former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, a Dutch news report said, citing an unidentified "adviser" to the U.N. war crimes tribunal.

The report came hours after Milosevic's legal adviser showed journalists a letter the late Serb leader wrote Friday, one day before his body was discovered in prison, alleging that he was being poisoned.

The report was on the text service of the Dutch state broadcaster, NOS. It did not identify its source further.

Dutch doctors conducted an autopsy Sunday on Milosevic's remains, but the results were not expected to be released until Monday.

http://www.forbes.com/business/commerce/feeds/ap/2006/03/12/ap2588638.html

Link is functioning with this story as of the time of this post.

[The Magistrate]

19. So Far, Ma'am, The Report Originates With The Defense Team

It will be wisest to wait for further, and impartial, reports, before drawing any conslusions....

[bemildred]

22. Oh, come on Sir, this is going to be good.

Let the dogs run free.

[The Magistrate]

23. Oh, There Will Be Rum Fun Indeed, My Friend, Over All This

But my nature remains what you know it to be....

[bemildred]

24. Well, OK.

I know you are right. But I wait with glee for Mike Whitney to weigh in on this.

[The Magistrate]

25. Many Others Are Doubtless Queuing Up, Sir, As Well

Put bluntly, it would not much distress me if guards had beaten the reptile to death. Where a man has himself committed a great act of injustice, it seems right to the darker corners of my mind that the punishment itself include a degree of injustice, making it a repayment in kind on all levels....

"As he did, let him be done."

[bemildred]

34. Ah, here we go:

Upon learning of the death of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic in prison in The Hague, Netherlands, on March 12, the International Action Center in the United States joined organizations and individuals around the world in condemning the court, prison authorities and the forces behind them with criminal negligence in ignoring the prisoner’s medical care.

The IAC also condemned the International Criminal Tribunal on the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for holding a “fraudulent trial for the last four years in an attempt to blame President Milosevic and Yugoslavia for NATO’s criminal war in the Balkans.”

---

“During this trial, now over four years old,” said Flounders, “the prosecution failed to present a coherent case against President Milosevic. In addition, his vigorous defense exposed step by step the crimes of the imperialist powers, especially the U.S. and Germany, in conspiring to destroy the Yugoslav Socialist Federation through subversion and direct military assault. As the case was drawing to a close this presented a terrible dilemma for the court.”

http://www.iacenter.org/milos/Milos_us-nato-charged032006.htm

[liberalnurse]

20. Was he being treated

for TB? Was the drug INH or Rafampin? It sounds reasonable that he could of harbored TB which just recently became active in his later years.

[Endangered Specie]

26. Heart attack, yeah right...

WHAT heart?

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

27. why do all the bad ones die in their

sleep? while their victims still suffer.

[reorg]

28. Milosevic died of heart attack, UN says, but questions remain

Milosevic died of heart attack, UN says, but questions remain

THE HAGUE (AFP) - Former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic died of a heart attack, the UN war crimes court said, but refused completely to rule out a poisoning theory as it prepared his body for release.

...

Earlier, Dutch NOS television reported that recent analyses had discovered "foreign substances" in Milosevic's blood. It said that they neutralized the effects of medication he was prescribed for blood pressure and heart problems.

Milosevic's legal advisor Zdenko Tomanovic said Sunday the former strongman had addressed a letter to the Russian foreign ministry saying he feared he was being poisoned after receiving a medical report indicating large amounts of a drug for tuberculosis or leprosy in his blood.

"Milosevic pointed out that during the last five years he had never used any such antibiotics, especially since he had never had leprosy or tuberculosis or any kind of infectious disease except for the flu," Tomanovic said.

...

more ...

[OKNancy]

30. Your link now takes us to this story

Milosevic took wrong medicine to escape UN court: expert 32 minutes ago



THE HAGUE (AFP) - Slobodan Milosevic gave himself a drug that neutralised his heart medicine, an expert who examined his blood alleged as the former Yugoslav president's family pushed for a state funeral in his homeland.


"I am sure he took the medicine himself because he wanted a one-way ticket to Moscow" for treatment, Dutch toxicologist Donald Uges told AFP, a day after an official autopsy concluded Milosevic died of a heart attack.

"That is why he took rifampicin," he said, although he could not prove his claim.

Rifampicin is a powerful antibiotic used to treat leprosy or tuberculosis which Uges said countered the effects of Milosevic's heart medication.

The University of Groningen toxicologist said he had examined Milosevic's blood two weeks ago at the request of Dutch doctors who wanted to know why his blood pressure was not dropping despite medication.

[reorg]

31. interesting

little wonder that he didn't trust the Dutch doctors.

Who would go to the trouble of examining the trial transcripts and videos now?
Nobody actually cares about the ongoings in Yugoslavia (anymore), worse things have happened since. So only very few people will realise that Milosevic had no interest at all to spare the Tribunal the utter embarrassment of a failed or phony conviction.

http://hague.bard.edu/video.html

[reorg]

37. link to original story

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060313/ts_afp/warcrimesyugomilosevic_060313083711

[Gregorian]

33. Take note, Cheney.

Behind bars. Heart attack.

[Radio_Guy]

35. Whatever

Now the Hague can focus on invstigating Bushco.

[Jose Diablo]

36. Probably rat poison in his food. n/t

[Megahurtz]

38. I think someone did him in. n/t

[Moderator]

39. kick

[occuserpens]

40. Milosevic took 'unprescribed drugs'

2006-03-13 Deja vu

Milosevic took 'unprescribed drugs'