The mystery surrounding the sudden death of former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic may be lifted later today with the expected official release of the Dutch coroner's autopsy results.
Serbian state television, quoting what it said were unofficial but reliable sources, said late last night that Mr Milosevic had died on Saturday of heart failure, while a statement issued by the UN war crimes tribunal said the cause of death was "myocardial infarction".
The chief war crimes prosecutor, Carla del Ponte, had earlier suggested suicide as a possibility, but then backtracked. Milosevic's family and supporters insisted he had been poisoned.
But a former legal assistant to Mr Milosevic, facing 66 counts of genocide and war crimes at The Hague tribunal, produced a letter yesterday which he said was written by the former president a day before he died. The handwritten letter expressed the fear he was being poisoned instead of receiving medical treatment for heart disease and high blood pressure.
"The people against whom I defended my country in the war ... have an interest in silencing me and cannot be interested in treating me," said Zdenko Tomanovic, the legal assistant, reading from the five- page letter.
The letter said a tribunal medical test in January had detected a drug Mr Milosevic had never knowingly taken, apparently used to treat tuberculosis and leprosy.
Last night, Dutch public television NOS quoted an unnamed source as saying that a blood sample taken from Mr Milosevic between November and January had shown traces of "unusual foreign substances".
Mr Milosevic is the fourth person to die in the custody of the Hague tribunal. Two prisoners have committed suicide, including former Croatian Serb leader Milan Babic last Sunday, and one has died of natural causes.While the autopsy was taking place in The Hague, Mr Milosevic's relatives appeared to be arguing over where to bury him.
His wife, Mira Markovic, was reportedly insisting on burying him in Moscow, where she and their son, Marko, live after fleeing arrest warrants in their homeland, while their daughter, Marija, wants him buried in the family grave in Montenegro, where she lives.
Mira fled to Russia in 2003, ducking charges of abusing her state position. She may also face questions over the murder of former Yugoslav Communist party chief Ivan Stambolic. Mr Milosevic's allies are demanding a state funeral in Serbia for the former president - including burial at Belgrade's "Alley of Heroes" cemetery or in his home town of Pozarevac.
Ivica Dacic, the Socialist party president, told supporters: "Slobodan Milosevic did not die, he was murdered in The Hague prison", echoing the banner headlines on several Serb newspapers.