Slobodan Milosevic was a Serbian and Yugoslavian president who was born on August 20, 1941 in Pozarevac, Serbia. He worked as a businessman in the economic and banking sectors before delving into politics in 1983. He was elected as Serbia’s president in 1989 and founded the Socialist party. In 1997, he became Yugoslavia’s president and was involved with the Kosovo crisis and NATO confrontation. He lost power in 2000 and was charged with crimes against humanity. Milosevic died on March 11, 2006.
Political Career
President of Serbia (1990-2000) and Yugoslavia (1997-2000), Slobodan Milosevic was born in Pozarevac, Serbia, on August 20, 1941. He studied law at Belgrade University, then began a career in management and banking before entering politics. He is the founder and president of the socialist party of Serbia. He became the focus of world attention during the Kosovo crisis and NATO confrontation in early 1999, but following a wave of popular unrest he lost power in October 2000, and was replaced as president by Vojislav Kostunica.
Criminal History and Death
Following considerable international political and economic pressure, the new government arrested Milosevic in April 2001, and in June he was handed over to UN investigators to face a war crimes tribunal in The Hague. Conducting his own defense, his trial began in February 2002 and was ongoing in 2004, with repeated delays due to his ill-health. In September 2004, he was ordered to accept defense counsel but protested against the decision. Appeal judges in The Hague ruled in November that he has the right to defend himself but must have stand-by lawyers. In a separate investigation, in 2003 he was indicted with ordering the murder of former Serbian president Ivan Stambolic, and with the attempted murder of opposition leader Vuk Draskovic.
On March 11, 2006, Milosevic was found dead in his cell at the United Nations detention center in The Hague. He appeared to have died of natural causes.
World of Humanities 