Milosevic wife on second prison visit

Mira Markovic and her daughter-in-law Milica at Belgrade Airport

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- Slobodan Milosevic's wife has visited the former Yugoslav president in The Hague prison for the second time.

Mira Markovic saw her husband for the first time on Thursday since he was extradited on war crimes charges on June 28.

Lawyer Dragoslav Ognjanovic, who is speaking on her behalf, said Markovic reported the former Serbian president to be in good health.

"He is very good. His health is okay -- his blood pressure and so on," he said.

The couple were monitored for the duration of Thursday's six-hour visit.

Ognjanovic said: "She was very tried last night. She was exhausted because of the trip and the pressure. She's going to be in the prison with him all day and after that she will be in the hotel, resting."

Markovic has a three-day visa and plans to see her husband each day, the lawyer said.

She was granted a visa last Friday, after the Dutch government obtained a temporary waiver from a European Union travel ban for the Milosevic family and close associates.

Dutch authorities have promised to guard Markovic as best as they can and she is restricted to commuting to and from Scheveningen prison, where Milosevic is being held.

Markovic, 59, arrived on a Yugoslav Airlines flight from Belgrade at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, touching down at 9:30 a.m. (0730 GMT) on Thursday.

She was met on the tarmac by military police who put her in a BMW car and drove off with escort vehicles toward The Hague, without passing through normal customs or passport controls.

Markovic was seen off in Belgrade by her daughter-in-law, Milica Gajic. The two women hugged and waved as Markovic left the customs gate for the departure area.

Markovic will have access to the same amenities provided for visitors of about 30 other war crimes suspects being held at Scheveningen, including an intimacy room for couples who desire private time.

CNN's Chris Burns said "she was bringing comfort as well as advice" to her husband, who she has described as "cute and likeable."

He said that as Milosevic has rejected legal representation at his trial, he may be receiving advice from "his closest political confidante as to what he should do."

Milosevic is charged with four counts of war crimes, including crimes against humanity, for the deportation of about 750,000 ethnic Albanians out of Kosovo, as well as the deaths of hundreds of people killed during the Kosovo conflict in 1999. All carry possible life sentences.

United Nations War Crimes Tribunal prosecutors have not ruled out expanded charges.

Ognjanovic said he had been retained as part of a legal team to help defend Milosevic in The Hague.

It was not clear if Ognjanovic's appointment meant Milosevic had gone back on his decision not to appoint defence counsel or if the lawyers would only act as advisers to the ex-president.

Regular visitor

Milosevic and Markovic, a teenage sweetheart of the ousted Yugoslav leader, married in 1965. She is widely regarded as the driving force behind his career.

They have two children, daughter Mira and son Marko, both of whom have made fortunes on the back of their father's political career.

Milosevic was described by his wife as "cute and likeable."

She was a regular visitor to the prison where he was held in Belgrade after his arrest in April. But after his handover to the war crime authorities in The Hague she said she felt lost without him.

"I cannot do anything on my own, without him. He has always been around in my life and now I have to look after everything," Mira Markovic said in remarks reported by Croatian weekly Globus earlier this month.

Serbian newspapers have said Markovic may be planning to rent or buy an apartment in The Hague. Dutch officials say that would be legally impossible if she had only a short-stay entry permit.