NETHERLANDS: SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC'S WIFE MIRA MARKOVIC ARRIVES IN THE HAGUE TO BE REUNITED WITH HER HUSBAND FACING TRIAL FOR WAR CRIMES

Record ID: 647496

  • Title: NETHERLANDS: SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC'S WIFE MIRA MARKOVIC ARRIVES IN THE HAGUE TO BE REUNITED WITH HER HUSBAND FACING TRIAL FOR WAR CRIMES
  • Date: 19th July 2001
  • Summary: (W4) AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS (JULY 19, 2001) (REUTERS) 1. SLV JAT PLANE TAXIES ON TARMAC 0.06 2. SV/CU INTERIOR TERMINAL/ PEOPLE WATCHING AS PLANE TAXIES ON TARMAC; MONITOR SHOWING PLANE ARRIVALS (2 SHOTS) 0.14 3. LV/SV JAT PLANE ON TARMAC BY ARRIVAL GATE; SECURITY GUARD BY PLANE (2 SHOTS) 0.22 4. SLV MIRA MARKOVIC, WIFE OF FORMER YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC, WALKING DOWN PLANE STEPS/ GETS INTO CAR; CAR DRIVES OFF (2 SHOTS) 1.08 (W4) THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS (JULY 19, 2001) (REUTERS) 5. SV WORKERS PUTTING UP BARRICADES NEAR PRISON 1.21 6. SLV/SV PHOTOGRAPHERS (2 SHOTS) 1.30 7. SLV MIRA MARKOVIC'S CAR ARRIVING AT PRISON 1.52 (W6) 15. SLV EXTERIOR CARLTON AMBASSADOR HOTEL WHERE MIRA MARKOVIC IS STAYING 1.56 9. PAN LAWYER DRAGOSLAV OGNJANOVIC STANDING OUTSIDE HOTEL TALKING ON MOBILE PHONE 2.02 10. SV POLICE PUTTING UP SECURITY CORDON (2 SHOTS) 2.13 11. MCU (Serbian) OGNJANOVIC: "Milosevic knows what he is doing. He's a smart person. We'll see what happens. It depends on the situation (in court)" 2.30 12. SLV CAR CARRYING MIRA MARKOVIC ARRIVING AT HOTEL FROM PRISON/ MIRA MARKOVIC GETS OUT OF CAR/ WALKS INTO HOTEL 3.10 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 3rd August 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: AMSTERDAM AND THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS
  • Country: Netherlands
  • Reuters ID: LVADXS1A0P6PGE0EAOFB6N12984V
  • Story Text: Slobodan Milosevic's wife has been reunited with her
    husband, making her first trip to The Hague since the ousted
    Yugoslav leader was spirited out of Serbia to face war crimes
    charges. She is expected to stay until Saturday.



    Mira Markovic, herself a prominent politician, arrived
    at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport aboard a Yugoslav Airlines
    flight from Belgrade on Thursday (July 19).

    She has been dubbed Serbia's "Lady MacBeth" for her
    influence on her husband and is widely seen as a driving force
    behind her husband's career. She has also been named the "Red
    Witch" for her public support of leftist ideology and reported
    belief in mysticism.

    The plane touched down at around 9:30 a.m. (0730 GMT). The
    black-clad Markovic stepped out with two men. She made no
    comment to reporters and was immediately whisked away by a
    black BMW under police escort to the U.N. detention centre in
    The Hague where her husband is being held.

    The centre, in the leafy Hague seaside suburb
    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, dubbed "intimacy rooms".

    The close couple had not seen each other since he was
    transferred to the custody of the U.N. International Criminal
    Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia on June 28.

    Prosecutors have charged Milosevic on four counts,
    including crimes against humanity, accusing him of
    responsibility for the mass killings and expulsions of ethnic
    Albanians in Kosovo.

    Milosevic refuses to recognise the authority of the
    tribunal, which has entered a plea of not guilty on his
    behalf.

    Milosevic and his wife have been together since they were
    teenagers and are widely seen as a very close couple.

    Dutch authorities announced on Friday (July 13) they would
    grant Markovic a visa to visit her husband despite her
    presence on an EU blacklist of Milosevic's family and close
    associates.

    The blacklist was drawn up as part of international
    sanctions designed to hurt Milosevic and his entourage, seen
    in the West as among those most responsible for a decade of
    Balkan wars, and prevent them moving money around.

    But the war crimes tribunal asked the Netherlands to allow
    Markovic to visit Milosevic.

    The tribunal stresses its detention unit is a remand
    centre, not a prison. Many of the 39 inmates are still
    awaiting trial and must accordingly be treated as innocent
    people.

    Markovic said in a recent magazine interview she felt lost
    without her husband and still found him "cute and likeable".

    She was accompanied by lawyer Dragoslav Ognjanovic, who
    says he has been retained as part of a legal team to help
    defend Milosevic.

    It was not clear whether Ognjanovic's appointment meant
    Milosevic had gone back on his decision not to appoint defence
    counsel, or whether the lawyers would only act as advisers to
    the ex-president.

    "Milosevic knows what he is doing. He's a smart person",
    Ognjanovic told reporters outside the Carlton Ambassador hotel
    where he and Markovic are staying. "We'll see what happens. It
    depends on the situation (in court)"
    Markovic arrived back at the hotel a little later.


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