A hearse took the body of Slobodan Milosevic to Amsterdam airport today as Serbia cleared the way for the former Yugoslav president's widow to return for a funeral in Belgrade.
Milosevic, who died of a heart attack in jail on Saturday just months before a verdict in his war crimes trial, ruled for a decade as Yugoslavia imploded in conflict during the 1990s. Belgrade authorities have ruled out a state funeral.
A Serbian court said Milosevic's widow Mira Markovic, who fled to Moscow in 2003 to avoid charges of abuse of power, would not be arrested if she returned home. But she will face a court hearing and her passport will be confiscated, the court said.
Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said the decision meant the funeral could take place in Serbia. Milosevic's son Marko had said he might consider a burial in Moscow unless he could be sure his mother would be safe in Belgrade.
"He should be buried in the place where he belongs, in the capital of our country, there is no discussion about that," Marko Milosevic said in The Hague.
"But unfortunately there are so many obstacles," he said. "The priority right now is the safety and life of my mother."
Marko and a group of Russian doctors visited the forensic institute where Dutch pathologists conducted the autopsy on Sunday. A hearse took the body from the institute to Amsterdam airport. It was not clear when and where it would be flown out.
The director of the airport mortuary said the body would remain there overnight.
Milosevic's family has accused the UN tribunal of murdering the former Serb strongman by refusing his request to travel to Russia for medical treatment. Moscow has expressed distrust of the Dutch investigation into Milosevic's death and sent the Russian doctors to examine the post-mortem results.
Today, the UN court that has been trying Milosevic for more than four years formally closed his trial for war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.
"We express our regret at his passing. We also regret that his untimely death has deprived not only him, but indeed all interested parties of a judgment upon the allegations in the indictment," Presiding Judge Patrick Robinson told the court.