Milosevic's wife will not attend his funeral, says Russian lawmaker

A Russian nationalist lawmaker said Wednesday that Slobodan Milosevic's wife decided not to attend his funeral in Belgrade because of insufficient security guarantees.

Photo: Milosevic's wife will not attend his funeral, says Russian lawmaker

Sergei Baburin, a deputy speaker of the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, harshly criticized the Serbian authorities for their failure to grant legal immunity to Mirjana Markovic, who is living in self-imposed exile in Moscow.

"I consider it monstrous that leaders of Serbia and Montenegro have failed to provide adequate security guarantees to the widow of Slobodan Milosevic," Baburin said in televised remarks. Baburin, one of the leaders of the nationalist Homeland party, has long had ties to Milosevic and his family.

Markovic, who faces charges of abuse of power during Milosevic's reign in the 1990s, fled to Russia in 2003, just days before the March 2003 assassination of Zoran Djindjic, Serbia's first democratic prime minister and Milosevic's lifelong archrival.

Earlier Tuesday, a Belgrade court suspended a warrant for her arrest, but ordered her passport to be seized upon arrival.

The court said Markovic "will remain free and will not be taken into custody" after her lawyers deposit a bond worth Ђ 15,000 (US$17,000) as a guarantee that she will appear at a court hearing set for March 23, reports the AP.