Tears in Belgrade for "Serbia's Guardian"

Tears in Belgrade for "Serbia's Guardian"

At the headquarters of Slobodan Milosevic's party in the centre of Belgrade, portraits of the former president are still prominently on display.

On the news of his death, in a faraway prison on Saturday morning, hardcore supporters bustle round angrily, lowering flags flying outside the building to half-mast in mourning.

The building also serves as headquarters for the association "Sloboda", which until Saturday was busy helping Milosevic fight the charges of genocide and crimes against humanity that he faced in The Hague.

A young man there, dressed in black, crossed himself while staring at a portrait of the ex-leader in his prime. With eyes brimming with tears, he had come to say goodbye - too upset to say a word.

Standing besides him, Momcilo Raicevic, aged 80, was equally grief-stricken, though less reticent.

"They killed him, because they would not let him go to Russia for medical treatment," the old man said, referring to Milosevic's request to be allowed to travel to Moscow to obtain medical help for his heart problems and high blood pressure.

The pensioner said he had never been a member of Milosevic's Socialist Party of Serbia, SPS, but had come to pay his respects to a man he learned to love.

"Slobo was the guardian of Serbia," he said.

One floor below, in the SPS headquarters, party activists voiced their fury and their conspiracy theories.

"A million people would come and a day of mourning would be announced, if this was a normal country," one old man said, complaining about the government's low-key reaction.

Belgrade said it had "learned with regret" of Milosevic's death, and would be seeking clarification of the circumstances, but made no mention of official mourning.

"Slobodan Milosevic was killed today by international and domestic riff-raff," said Milos, a party member.

"As a citizen I call on Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic [the two major remaining war crimes fugitives] never to give themselves up to The Hague".

Sources close to the government, led by Vojislav Kostunica, said the extradition of General Mladic, which both The Hague and the European Union have long demanded, will now be more difficult to achieve.

"The government is going to have a difficult time extraditing Mladic, as everyone in Belgrade is blaming The Hague for Milosevic's death," one source said.

Marija Bursac, a Serb refugee from Kosovo, said the news had left her feeling devastated.

"My whole world came crushing down once I heard - it's so tragic,' she said. "I am glad I lived in his time, though, since this kind of man is rarely born."

The refugee said Milosevic had lived a life of torment in The Hague since his extradition there in 2001.

"All the pressure in The Hague was on the Serbs, as not a single Croat, Albanian or Muslim died in The Hague," she noted. "Only Serbs died. We are treated as murderers, though we were only defending our houses," she added.

Not all Serbs were so unqualified in their praise for the fallen president, who was ousted by street protests in Belgrade in 2000.

He had been on trial since 2002, facing 66 counts, including genocide and crimes against humanity.

Vitomir, an engineer, admitted that Milosevic "destroyed my youth" but condemned The Hague for preventing the former president from seeking treatment in Russia.

Marko, aged 16, said he did not know much about Milosevic, but was also "disgusted" by the Hague court's behaviour.

Voicing the deep suspicions that many Serbs harbour about the Hague tribunal, one street vendor suggested the court's officials engineered his death.

"They thought he would be an easy case and he came across as someone who was very tough," he said. "Now they have the reason to celebrate."

The next man on The Hague's death-wish list would be Vojislav Seselj, he suggested.

Seselj is leader of the ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party, SRS, and is also in The Hague on charges of war crimes. "Don't worry, they will kill him too," the vendor added.

The defensive reaction of many Serbs to the death of a man whom most Bosnians and Croats see as a war criminal, responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands, is a reminder of how divided Serbia remains.

The country is still split between those who think Serbs did no wrong in the wars of the Nineties, and those who want Serbia to reconcile itself with the extent to which war crimes were committed in its name.

The concern amongst the latter is that Milosevic's death deprived the trial, which should have determined his guilt or innocence, of an outcome.

Dejan Anastasijevic, a journalist from Vreme, voiced his disappointment that "the legal process against Milosevic has not been completed, including a clear verdict on his guilt".

Andrej Nosov, of the non-governmental organisation Youth Initiative, which campaigns for a public debate on war crimes, said he feared that anti-Hague sentiment among Serbs would increase.

"Milosevic's death will cement the belief of some people in Serbia that The Hague is an anti-Serbian court," he told Balkan Insight.

Nosov said it was urgent to ensure that all the facts proven during Milosevic's trial were now published.

"The facts about the crimes that Milosevic's regime committed need to be preserved from manipulation," he said. "This is most important for the future of Serbia."

Meanwhile, in Belgrade, life goes on as normal. Milka, an accountant, voiced the feelings of many when she said she was sorry for Milosevic as a human being, but added, "His death will be a relief for the Serbian people."

Dragana Nikolic-Solomon is director of BIRN Serbia and Montenegro. Balkan Insight is BIRN's internet publication.