MOSCOW, March 13 (RIA Novosti) - Russia has the right to study and question the results of the autopsy conducted on Slobodan Milosevic, the country's foreign minister said Monday.
Sergei Lavrov said Moscow had been ready to offer the former Yugoslav president treatment, which he requested in December 2005, but the proposal was rejected amid fears that Milosevic would flee his trial.
"Given that we were not believed, we also have the right not to trust [the autopsy results]," Lavrov said. "We have already asked the tribunal to allow our doctors to take part in the autopsy or, at the very least, see its results."
Lavrov said that Russian experts were preparing to fly to The Hague.
Milosevic, who was on trial for war crimes at the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, was found dead in his cell in The Hague Tribunal's prison March 11. Preliminary reports suggest he died of a heart attack.
Lavrov confirmed that Milosevic had sent a letter to the Russian Foreign Ministry complaining about treatment in the prison.
"In a letter, Milosevic expressed concerns about some methods used in his treatment, which he said had harmed his health," Lavrov said.
Lavrov also said the ministry had only received the letter, dated March 8, on Sunday, March 12, adding that he did not know what had caused the delay. The letter, in which Milosevic asked the Russian government again to voice its willingness to receive him for treatment, was not addressed to him personally, but to the ministry, Lavrov said.
Respected business daily Kommersant Monday cited Zdenko Tomanovic, Milosevic's Serbian lawyer, who recalled that his client had complained of attempts being made to poison him.
Tribunal officials, however, dismissed the accusation as wild guesses or efforts to prepare public opinion for blood test results, the newspaper wrote. The tribunal suspected that the ex-president had taken some non-prescription pills, which it said had been confirmed by tests conducted in January.
According to the daily, the tribunal decided Milosevic wanted to harm his health in hopes he would be sent to Moscow.
