Human Flower Project
Monday, March 20, 2006
Under the Linden Tree
Bloody Milosevic comes home.
A woman passes before the front doors of the Markovic family home in Pozharevac, Serbia. The former Yugoslavia’s late president, Milosevic, was
buried in the back garden here Saturday, March 18.
Photo: Valentina Petrova, for AFP
Slobodan Milosevic, former president of Yugoslavia, was on trial for crimes against humanity before a U.N. tribunal when he died, March 11. Among the charges against him—genocide in Bosnia.
The outpouring of crowds and red roses since his death came as a surprise to us; we would have thought even hardcore Socialist Serbs would welcome the passing of this murderous figure.
After protracted wrangling over the time, place and manner of his services, authorities denied Milosevic both a state and a religious funeral. Instead, the body returned to his hometown of Pozharevac. Milosevic was buried March 18 in the family garden, under a linden tree where he first kissed Mirjana Markovic, the high school sweetheart who became his wife.
Markovic did not attend Saturday’s funeral. She lives in exile in Moscow, and “faces Serbian charges of abuse of power during her husband’s 13-year reign.”