13 years from death: Who was Milosevic?

Today is March 11th, the thirteenth anniversary of the death of the notorious leader of the former Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milosevic [Slodan Milošev].

He was established as Serbian president after seeking reforming the 1974 Yugoslav Constitution because he claimed it marginalised Serbia and because he did not have the opportunity to stop the Albanian uprising in Kosovo.

When he took power in Serbia, he made a series of deep reforms by reducing the power of autonomous provinces. During the time Serbian military targets were being bombed in Yugoslavia in 1999, he was charged with war crimes by the International Tribunal for Crimes in the former Yugoslavia. [Getty Images] The ICTY] concerning wars in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo.

He was arrested on March 31, 2001, under suspicion of corruption, abuse of power and embezzlement. The first investigations into these charges failed to provide evidence, which prompted former Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic to extradite him to The Hague.

Beginnings

Milosevic has ancient roots from the village of Lijeva Rijekas in Podgorica and was part of the ancient tribe of Vasojevo in Montenegro. He was born in Pozharevac, four months after the invasion of the powers of Bosti, who made the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. He also had a older brother named Borislav who would later become a diplomat. His father, Svetozar, committed suicide when Slobodan was twenty-one-year-old in 1962. Slobodan's grandfather Simeun had been an officer in the Montenegrin Army. His mother, Stanislava, was a teacher and activist in the communist party, who also committed suicide in 1972 when Slobodan was thirty-one-year-old. His uncle, Milisav Koljensic, also committed suicide in 1963.

However, Milosevic attended studies at Belgrade University for law. At the university, he was notified by Ivan Stamboliqi, whose uncle was Petar Stambolic [President of the Serbian Executive Council, equivalent to the prime minister], who even enabled Milosevic to climb to the communist hierarchy.

As director of Beobanka, one of the largest Yugoslav banks, he often traveled to Paris and New York to be able to learn English. He was six inches tall.

Rise

Milosevic's Milosevic in power can be attributed to Kosovo, writes Periscopi. He became known in Yugoslav politics after declaring his support for the Serbs here, who claimed they were being oppressed by the autonomous province with Albanian leaders. It added that the province's authorities with Albanians had abused their powers by violating the rights of Serbs. As a solution to the problem, he called for reducing autonomy in order to protect the rights of Serbs, and to launch a strong blow on Kosovo separatists.

He was criticised by his political opponents that he was willing to strengthen Serbia's position next to the Kosovo Albanians -- a policy considered nationalist, which was taboo in the Yugoslav communist system. Milosevic had repeatedly denied being nationalist or using that card to establish power. In an interview for Time in 1995, he defended himself by saying he was standing by all nationalities in Yugoslavia.

As the animation between Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo grew during the 80s, Milosevic went to address Serbs on the anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo on 24 April 1987. The crowd of Serbs had crashed with Albanian police officers guarding the order, while Milosevic had said “they would not dare beat you anymore. ”

Postcrupulous Oportunist

Istanbul itself, which had established Milosevic in power with its own hands, had said that the day it was looking at Yugoslavia's “end of”.

Dragisa Pavlovic, an ally of Istanbul, was expelled from the party after publicly criticising him in Serbia's Communist League, party policy towards Kosovo.

Milosevic had denied that he had ordered the massacres against Albanians in 1998. He claimed that those deaths were isolated sporadic events in rural areas and carried out by paramilitaries and rebels in the armed forces. He added that those who committed these massacres had received severe sentences.

The former US ambassador to Yugoslavia, Warren Zimmerman, had said that during his talks with Milosevic he had learned that he was not a real nationalist but also a political opportunist. Zimmerman even adds that unlike Franjo Tudjman and Radovan Karadzhiqi, Milosevic had no hatred of any ethnic group.

Milosevic's personality is said to have been of double nature, as Ambassador Zimmerman has described. In the public he seemed strong, confident, harsh and serious, while in private, he was said to be very humble, and even interested in things outside politics like comical sketches, Disney cartoons and admired Frank Sinatras' music.

In the summer of 2000, former Serbian President Ivan Stambolic and also Milosevic's former associate of studies had been kidnapped; his body was found in 2003 and Milosevic himself was charged with ordering his murder.

On March 11th 2006, Milosevic was found dead in his cell in Scheveningen, The Hague. The autopsy found that Milosevic had undergone heart attack. He used to suffer from heart problems and high blood pressure. Many suspicions were raised that he was deliberately killed by the effectiveness of the Tribunal.

The world will remember the opportunist Communist as one of the most murderous dictators of modern times.