Mr Slobodan Milosevic's wife, Ms Mira Markovic, can travel to The Hague to visit him despite being banned by the EU from obtaining a visa, a European Commission spokesman said yesterday.
Mr Gunnar Wiegand said the Netherlands could issue the visa under arrangements made with the UN's International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which is holding Mr Milosevic.
Ms Markovic's name follows that of Mr Milosevic and their daughter-in-law, Ms Milica Gajic-Milosevic, on a list of 13 individuals - revised by EU foreign ministers last February - to be denied visas to travel to any of the 15 EU member-states.
The ban states that "exemptions may be made in cases where the issuing of a visa is necessary for the indictee to appear before the ICTY". It does not, however, refer to relatives of indictees.
The visa ban was kept in place when other EU sanctions against Yugoslavia were lifted in October following the former president's downfall. Assets held in the EU by those named on the list also remain frozen.
Mr Wiegand said that an analysis by EU lawyers had concluded that "the visa can be issued under the statutes of the International Criminal Tribunal, which is derived in turn from a UN Security Council resolution which is binding on all UN members. "Indeed, Ms Markovic has asked for such a visa, so I guess this will go ahead very soon," he said.
Others named on the list include Mr Milosevic's older brother, Mr Borislav Milosevic, formerly Yugoslavia's ambassador to Russia; his son, Marko, and daughter, Marija.
The bodies of some 800 ethnic Albanians, suspected victims of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Mr Milosevic's 1999 crackdown on Kosovo, have been buried in mass graves near Belgrade, Serbian police officials said yesterday.