Mr Slobodan Milosevic's wife was reunited with her detained husband yesterday, making her first trip to The Hague since the ousted Yugoslav leader was extradited from Serbia to face war crimes charges.
Ms Mirjana Markovic, nicknamed Serbia's "Lady Macbeth" for her influence on her spouse, flew from Belgrade to Amsterdam. A black BMW escorted by police took her to the UN remand centre, where the ex-president awaits trial.
Ms Markovic (59) made no comment to reporters either on her departure or arrival in the Netherlands, where she is expected to stay until tomorrow.
However, Russian radio quoted Mr Milosevic's brother as saying Ms Markovic was upset at being separated from her husband, who was handed into the custody of the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia on June 28th.
Herself a prominent politician, Ms Markovic is widely seen as a driving force behind her husband's career. She has been dubbed the "Red Witch" for her public support of leftist ideology and reported belief in mysticism.
The former Yugoslav president, whom Ms Markovic called "cute and likeable" in a recent Croatian magazine interview, has been indicted on four counts including crimes against humanity. Prosecutors hold him responsible for mass killings and expulsions of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo in 1999.
The tribunal's detention centre, in The Hague's seaside suburb of Scheveningen, allows visitors between 9 a.m. and 4.45 p.m. on weekdays. Couples can typically expect to be provided with rooms for conjugal visits, known as "intimacy rooms".
Ms Markovic was accompanied to the Netherlands by a lawyer, Mr Dragoslav Ognjanovic, who said he had been retained as part of a legal team to defend Mr Milosevic.
"She will visit Milosevic every single day for three days," he said.
It was not clear whether Mr Milosevic had gone back on his decision not to appoint defence counsel, or whether the lawyers would act only as advisers to the former president.
Mr Borislav Milosevic told Russian radio his brother refuses to read documents related to his case and rejects lawyers.
Dutch authorities announced last week they would grant Ms Markovic a visa despite her presence on an EU blacklist of Milosevic's family and close associates. The war crimes tribunal asked the Netherlands to allow Ms Markovic to visit her spouse.