Pro-Milosevic lawmakers hold minute of silence for late leader

Lawmakers loyal to the late Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic held a minute of silence on Monday, which was boycotted by deputies from other parties in parliament.

Photo: Pro-Milosevic lawmakers hold minute of silence for late leader

Representatives from the Socialist Party, formerly led by Milosevic, and the allied Serbian Radical Party 104 of them altogether stood in silence, as they paid their respects the ex-Yugoslav leader, who died earlier this month while in detention of the U.N. war crimes tribunal.

The Serbian parliament has 250 deputies from several major Serbian parties. The deputies from Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia remained in their seats during the silence, while the remaining lawmakers boycotted the session.

"This was organized for those who wanted to pay their respects to Milosevic," said Zoran Andjelkovic, a top Socialists official. "We did not want to make a show of it", reports the AP.

D.M.