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Milosevic funeral to be held at his birthplace

Slobodan Milosevic - Funeral in Serbia
Slobodan Milosevic - Funeral in Serbia

The body of former Yogoslav leader, Slobodan Milosevic, has arrived in Belgrade ahead of his funeral in his Serbian birthplace of Pozarevac.

About 100 Milosevic supporters gathered in the airport as the coffin arrived on a plane from Amsterdam.

The Serbian government has refused a state funeral, but members of his Socialist Party have vowed to put the coffin of public display.

Earlier, a Russian doctor who examined the results of an autopsy on Mr Milosevic said he agrees with Dutch pathologists who said Mr Milosevic died of a heart attack.

Leo Bokeria, a Director at Moscow's Bakulev Heart Surgery Centre, was part of a team of doctors that Russia sent to examine the results of the Dutch autopsy after Moscow said it did not trust the investigation into the former leader's death.

Mr Milosevic's family had accused the UN war crimes tribunal of murdering him.

Yesterday, a Serbian court said Mr Milosevic's widow Mira Markovic, who fled to Moscow in 2003 to avoid charges of abuse of power, would not be arrested if she returned home.

It is almost five years since the former Yugoslav leader was sent to The Hague to stand trial for war crimes. His trial was formally halted yesterday.