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MOSCOW, March 16 (RIA Novosti) - Serbian socialists said Thursday they would organize an honorable funeral for former president Slobodan Milosevic.
Zoran Anjelkovic, General Secretary of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), of which Milosevic was honorary president, said the party was in contact with Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica to coordinate funeral procedures, adding that the party did not want to turn the funeral into a political manifestation and expected no trouble.
"The SPS does not envisage any disorders, although several thousand people are expected to come," Anjelkovic said. "Our goal is not to make funeral a political act, but to let our people to say farewell to their [former] president."
He said people from all over the country would be able to pay their respects to Milosevic from 1 p.m. GMT Thursday until 11 a.m. GMT Saturday, with a farewell ceremony set for Belgrade's square near the parliament building from 1 p.m. on March 18.
Milosevic's body will then be taken for burial to his native town of Pozarevac, 45 miles from Belgrade. The local legislative assembly voted Thursday to have the former Yugoslav leader buried outside his ancestral house.
Saturday will be declared a day of mourning in Pozarevac.
Milosevic's brother, Borislav, who is currently recovering from heart surgery at a Moscow clinic, said he was not certain he would be able to attend the funeral.
"It is unlikely I will go to the funeral. Doctors say I shouldn't go in such a state and need to stay in the hospital under monitoring for another three to five days," he said. "I am getting better now. But there is no clarity yet as to when I will be discharged."
However, Borislav said he had booked a ticket to Belgrade just in case his doctors allow him to go.
Milosevic, 64, was found dead in his prison cell March 11. Preliminary reports suggest he died of a heart attack. The former Yugoslav president was on trial at the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia on charges of war crimes and genocide.
Milosevic suffered from a heart condition and high blood pressure, but the Hague Tribunal refused to grant him temporary release for medical treatment in Russia for fear he would flee the trial.
