Milosevic had access to drugs



Officials say he intentionally took drugs that undermined his medicine.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) -- Slobodan Milosevic had regular access to drugs and alcohol smuggled into his prison cell, yet the U.N. war crimes tribunal failed to take action despite warnings, tribunal officials said Tuesday.
Two officials told The Associated Press the unit's prison warden had cautioned the tribunal president and registrar that as a result, Milosevic's health could not be guaranteed.
Nevertheless, they said, no action was taken to tighten supervision. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the tribunal's strict confidentiality rules.
The officials, who had access to confidential reports on Milosevic's incarceration, were countering allegations by Milosevic's loyalists that the former Serb president was poisoned or unwittingly given harmful drugs. They said two doctors had concluded that Milosevic intentionally took drugs that undermined the medicine prescribed for his heart ailments, in order to slow the pace of his war crimes trial.
Hours earlier, Milosevic's son alleged his father was murdered in custody. "He got killed. He didn't die. He got killed. There's a murder," Marko Milosevic told AP Television News aboard a flight to the Netherlands to claim the body.
Prison warden Timothy McFadden refused interview requests, and U.N. tribunal spokeswoman Alexandra Milenov said the court could not comment "because the investigation into Milosevic's death is ongoing."
Milosevic, who presided over four Balkan wars and the breakup of Yugoslavia that cost some 250,000 lives, died of a heart attack in bed in his jail cell, according to preliminary autopsy findings. His body was found Saturday.
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