SERBIA: Tears and jeers welcomed Slobodan Milosevic back to Serbia yesterday, as the nation prepared to say an emotional farewell to the former Yugoslav president.
For the Socialist Party allies who met his body at a snowy Belgrade airport, Mr Milosevic's burial in his home town on Saturday will mark the passing of a hero, while millions of people across former Yugoslavia will say good riddance to a hated tyrant.
After laying a wreath and Serbia's red, white and blue flag on Mr Milosevic's coffin, tearful socialist officials accompanied it to a morgue where it will be kept until they finalise controversial plans to put his body on public display in central Belgrade.
"It is not certain when people will be able to see the body," said Vanja Vukic, a Socialist Party spokesman, as the aircraft carrying Mr Milosevic's body flew in from Holland, to where he was extradited in October 2005 to face 66 counts of war crimes.
"But there will be a huge public ceremony in front of the Yugoslav federation building at midday on Saturday, and then he will be buried where he was born, at his family home in Pozarevac," a town 50 miles (80km) southeast of the capital, Mr Vukic said.
Serbia's president refused to give Mr Milosevic a state funeral or a place in Belgrade's revered Avenue of Heroes cemetery, saying it would be unsuitable for a man who died last Saturday in a cell at the United Nations court in The Hague. It was still unclear whether his widow, Mira Markovic, will attend the funeral. She faces charges of abuse of power and questions about the murder of former Serb president Ivan Stambolic.
Officials maintain that Mira - dubbed the "Red Witch" for her communist leanings and "Lady Macbeth" for her powers of manipulation - will have to hand over her passport on arrival from Moscow and will be arrested if she fails to turn up to a Belgrade court hearing on March 23rd.
"She is innocent and shouldn't even be in court," insisted Vukic. "But I'm sure she will come back with Marko [ their son]. At a Christian funeral, the family must be here."
After receiving his father's body from coroners at The Hague, Marko was believed to have flown back to Moscow, from where socialist officials say he will arrive in Belgrade today with his mother.
But while Mr Milosevic's supporters predicted that tens of thousands of people would descend on Belgrade for Saturday's ceremony, many Serbs were less enthusiastic about the homecoming of a leader whose belligerence left their country poor and isolated.
"Milosevic and his family are a disgrace," said Belgrade businessman Dragan Djordjevic.
"They ruined our lives, and now we are expected to welcome them back. If this government lets Mira and Marko go free then they are worse than everyone thinks."
In Pozarevac this week, opinion was sharply divided on its most famous family.
Pensioner Pavle Djalovic said Milosevic "was the greatest Serb leader of the 20th century.
"If he was buried here it would be a great honour. Whatever happens, his name will always be associated with Pozarevac."
But for many of the town's 50,000 residents, that association is malign. "People were scared of Marko and that old cow Mira," said 48-year-old Dragana.
"If Marko picked out a cafe it would be closed. If he picked out a person he would be beaten up. He was aggressive and arrogant - really like a gangster," she added.
"If [ Milosevic's] family came to see him here, a lot of angry people would be waiting."