"Milosevic wrote letter to Lavrov one day before his death"

"Milosevic wrote letter to Lavrov one day before his death"

"The day before he was found dead in a cell, Milosevic asked me to come a little earlier to him in prison, and to take his hand-written letter to the Russian embassy, with the request that it be handed to Russian Minister Sergei Lavrov. In the letter, he complained that he was being poisoned in the Hague Tribunal and asked Russia to protect him and save him. A day later, Milosevic was found dead," Tomanovic - who was also the only citizen of Serbia who saw Milosevic dead in his cell - told the magazine.

The interview was conducted last Sunday, two days after the murder of Tomanovic's colleague Dragoslav "Misa" Ognjanovic.

Tomanovic was clearly disappointed and resigned: "Misa was killed only because he was a lawyer. And at this moment, this is the only significant thing. Unfortunately, our political elites and their media executioners immediately saw the opportunity to criminalize a lawyer. This creates an atmosphere that relativizes the importance of this murder."

To kill a lawyer just because he was doing his job "goes beyond the strength of all the numbers that we are being offered," he said. "Equality and security of every citizen is not ensured by transferring of responsibility to some past times."

And then he warned: "Lawyers must unite, because that's in the interest of Serbian citizens."

In the wide-ranging interview, Tomanovic also spoke about the judiciary in Serbia and all of its defects, the influence of politics and the media on the law, the defense of Milosevic, his socializing with Aleksandar Tijanic and Bogdan Tirnanic, and his clients Miroslav Miskovic, Milan Beko, and Emir Kusturica.