Milosevic's widow to be tried in absentia

Oct 6, 2010, 13:37 GMT

Belgrade - A Belgrade court said Wednesday that it will try in absentia Mirjana Markovic, the widow of former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic, on charges of corruption.

Markovic, 68, was charged in 2002 for using her influence to misappropriate state-owned apartments. She fled Serbia in 2003 and an international arrest warrant was issued for her in 2005, after she failed to show up for the trial following several summons.

In September, her lawyer said that the charges were nearing their statute of limitations and that Markovic would be free to return after they expire on October 13.

Prosecutors however reacted with a new set of charges against Markovic, with more direct accusations of corruption and recommending that the court should try her in absentia.

The date for the start of the trial has not been set.

Markovic has found refuge in Moscow with her son Marko, who was charged for harassing and threatening opposition activists in 2000. His indictment expired in September.

Both mother and son are however still under investigation over their alleged role in the multi-million-dollar smuggling of tobacco in Serbia during international sanctions in the 1990s.

Markovic's and Milosevic's daughter Marija also faces a criminal trial, under charges of endangering the public, because she fired shots from a handgun in April 2001, during Milosevic's arrest.

She has retreated to Montenegro and reportedly has been unable to take Montenegrin citizenship because of the pending trial.

Milosevic was arrested under corruption charges, but was extradited to stand a war crimes trial at the United Nations tribunal in The Hague in June 2001. He died of a heart attack in 2006 before the trial was completed.

The failure of the Serbian justice to bring the surviving members of the Milosevic family to justice has embittered many in the opposition ranks who suffered repressions during his heavy-handed reign in the 1990s.

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