Hundreds of mourners file past Milosevic's coffin

Tearful supporters of Slobodan Milosevic paid their last respects Thursday as the flag-draped coffin of the former Yugoslav president was placed on public display in Belgrade.

Milosevic died Saturday at a UN detention centre while on trial at the International War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague.

The government of Serbia and Montenegro denied him a state funeral. Instead, his coffin was displayed in the Museum of the Revolution, a little-used monument devoted to former dictator Josip Broz Tito, who held Yugoslavia's fractious ethnic groups together from the Second World War until 1981.

Although Milosevic was ousted in 2000 after 13 years in power and is widely regarded as the architect of a series of Balkans wars that killed 250,000 people, he is still a beloved figure among many Serb nationalists.

Milosevic's Socialist Party colleagues had threatened to topple the minority government if he wasn't given some sort of ceremony and called for Saturday to be a day of mourning.

"This is a burial by the people, not a party," said Socialist Party official Zoran Andjelkovic.

'It is insane that such a Serb hero, the best of all, is gone'

Hundreds of mostly elderly mourners filed past Milosevic's coffin on Thursday and placed roses the official symbol of Yugoslavia's Socialist Party.

"It is insane that such a Serb hero, the best of all, is gone," said Mirko Lekic, 62, a chef who said he "cried like a baby" when Milosevic's death was announced.

Milivoje Zivkovic, 81, limped his way up to the museum with a cane to pay tribute to "the man who loved his country more than any other Serb."

Milosevic's widow to return from exile for funeral

Milosevic is to be buried on his family's estate in Pozarevac, about 50 kilometres southeast of the capital.

• FROM MARCH 15, 2006: Milosevic to be buried in hometown, official says

His widow, Mirjana Markovic, was to arrive Friday from Moscow for the burial, according to Socialist officials.

Markovic, who lives in Russia in self-imposed exile, had said she would not come until all charges against her for alleged abuses during Milosevic's reign were dropped.

Milosevic's brother, Borislav, will not attend because he is recovering from heart surgery in Russia, according to Russian news sources.

Milosevic faced charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his alleged central role in the wars in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo, as well as genocide charges over the 1992-95 Bosnia war, which left 100,000 people dead.

In one of the most notorious incidents, as many as 8,000 Muslim men and boys were slain by Serb forces in the Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica.

News of Milosevic's death was greeted with joy last week by mothers and widows of Srebrenica's victims, but many said they regretted that his death meant he would not have to stand trial for the killings.

There has been controversy over the physical circumstances of Milosevic's death. An autopsy has confirmed he died of heart disease, but there were reports he had access to non-prescription drugs and alcohol that could have prevented drugs prescribed by doctors from working properly.

Serbian General Ratko Mladic, alleged to have supervised the Srebrenica massacre, is still at large and wanted for war crimes, as is former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Kradzic.