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Lawyer: Milosevic did not alter medication
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QUICKVOTEYOUR E-MAIL ALERTSTHE HAGUE, Netherlands (CNN) -- A lawyer for Slobodan Milosevic has denied news reports that the former leader of Yugoslavia altered his medication to discredit medical care at a Dutch detention center and be allowed to seek treatment in Russia. Zdenko Tomanovic said Monday that the 64-year-old Milosevic, who died Saturday in his cell, did not medicate himself with the drug rifampicin -- used in the treatment of leprosy and tuberculosis. "Mr. Milosevic said he had never used any medicine against leprosy or tuberculosis," Tomanovic told CNN in The Hague, where Milosevic was on trial for war crimes from the Balkan wars of the 1990s. "He asked, 'How are they finding in my blood this drug if I have never used this drug?'" Earlier Monday, wire services quoted a Dutch toxicologist as saying he had found rifampicin in Milosevic's bloodstream in tests conducted earlier this year. The toxicologist, Donald Uges of Groningen University, also said that doctors at the detention center had concluded Milosevic had obtained the powerful bacteriocidal antibiotic and had been administering it himself. Rifampicin is known to reduce the effectiveness of blood pressure medication. Milosevic had complained that he was not receiving proper medical care at the detention center, and two days before his death had asked for a recess in the trial so that he could be taken for treatment in Russia. The tribunal refused the request. Milosevic contended that he was being poisoned. "One issue is whether Mr. Milosevic's claim that he was being poisoned is justified or not," Tomanovic said. "The central issue is whether or not Mr. Milosevic had appropriate medical care." The Associated Press reported that Urges had asked for the tests in February after Milosevic's blood pressure failed to respond to medication given by doctors at the detention center. Uges said rifampicin "makes the liver extremely active. If you're taking something (another medication) it breaks down very quickly," he told AP. Uges told Reuters he believed Milosevic took the drugs himself to try to prove that his medical care at The Hague was inadequate. "I am so sure there is no murder. There is not any reason for that," he said. "I don't think he took his medicines for suicide -- only for his trip to Moscow. When he was in Moscow he would be free. That is where his friends and family are. I think that was his last possibility to escape the Hague," Uges said. It was not the first time doctors suspected Milosevic of self-medicating. Trial transcripts from August reveal that doctors had found traces of benzodiazepines, used to counter stress, in his bloodstream "which is odd given the patient's refusals to take benzodiazepines from the United Nations' unit staff," according to a report from a Dr. Dijkman. Dijkman also suggested "that the accused must have obtained and be taking drugs other than those prescribed in some other way," the transcript said. The toxicology report from Milosevic's autopsy is not due before Tuesday. Preliminary autopsy results released late Sunday indicated that the former Yugoslav president died of a heart attack, according to a spokeswoman for the U.N. war crimes tribunal. Two pathologists from Belgrade attended the autopsy and gave the tribunal a summary, said spokeswoman Alexandra Milenov. "According to the pathologists, the cause of death was a myocardial infarction," or heart attack, she said. The pathologists also said two heart conditions the former leader suffered from "would explain the myocardial infarction," according to Milenov. She said a final report would not be complete for several days. However, Russian news agencies quoted Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying Moscow did not trust the autopsy results and wanted its doctors to examine the results of the post mortem. Dutch Foreign Ministry spokesman Dirk-Jan Vermeij, speaking after the Russian report, said four Russian doctors have been given seven-day visas to come to The Hague to study the results of the autopsy. Also Monday, Dutch prosecutors released Milosevic body. Marko Milosevic, the son of Slobodan Milosevic, has been granted a three-day visa to retrieve the body of his father, Vermeij said. Marko Milosevic hopes to transport the body of his father to Belgrade for burial. (Clash over burial site) Tomanovic, the Milosevic lawyer, said Monday an application had been made with authorities in Belgrade to lift an arrest warrant for Milosevic's widow, Mirjana Markovic, which would allow her to travel from Russia, where she now lives, to attend Milosevic's funeral. Belgrade is the capital of Serbia and was also the capital of the former Yugoslavia. Milosevic, nicknamed the "Butcher of the Balkans," was on trial for 66 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Balkans during the 1990s. His death came just a few months before the expected conclusion of his trial, which had lasted more than four years. (Watch what allegations brought Milosevic to The Hague -- 4:46) U.N. war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte expressed regret and frustration that Milosevic died before his trial was ended and a verdict reached. "It deprives the victims of the justice they need and deserve," she told reporters. "What they are asking for is that justice be done, and now it will not be possible." (Watch a concentration camp survivor share his thoughts -- 4:51) Judge Fausto Pocar, the president of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, also said the death shortchanged victims and their families. "It is extremely unfortunate that the victims and their families will not have a final answer in this case," he said. Tribunal vows to carry on workHigh Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina Paddy Ashdown said the former Yugoslav president led "the great nation of Serbs into catastrophe and shame." The high representative position was created under the Dayton accords that brought peace to the warring factions in Bosnia in 1995. (Read reactions) The war crimes tribunal vowed to carry on its work, bringing suspected war criminals to justice for acts during the Balkan wars of the last decade -- especially Milosevic's right-hand men, Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, who remain at large. Mladic, the former leader of the Bosnian Serb army, and Karadzic, the political leader, are charged with the July 1995 massacre at Srebrenica of 8,000 Muslim men and boys. (Srebrenica: 'A triumph of evil') Milosevic's death comes a day before the third anniversary of the assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, who was integral in the overthrow of Milosevic.(Full story) His death also comes less than a week after Milan Babic, former leader of rebel Serbs, committed suicide. Babic was serving a 13-year sentence for war crimes and was found dead in his cell at the same prison in The Hague where Milosevic died. (Details) CNN's Christiane Amanpour, Matthew Chance, Paula Newton, Brent Sadler and Alessio Vinci contributed to this report Copyright 2006 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report. 
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