THE HAGUE: Slobodan Milosevic died of natural causes, not poisoning, but security breaches did allow the former Yugoslav president to self-medicate, the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague reported yesterday.
"Nothing has been found to support allegations reported in some sections of the media that Mr Milosevic had been murdered, in particular by poisoning," said an internal report by the tribunal into Milosevic's death in his cell in March.
"It cannot be concluded that there was a failure to provide proper care by those treating Mr Milosevic," it said.
Milosevic died in detention on March 11th, months before the expected conclusion of his marathon war crimes trial.
An investigation by Dutch prosecutors concluded in April that Milosevic died of a heart attack with no sign of foul play, such as poisoning.
But speculation has continued over whether Milosevic deliberately took drugs to exacerbate his high blood pressure to strengthen his case for release for medical treatment in Russia, where his wife and son live.