THE HAGUE, March 12: Slobodan Milosevic claimed a day before his death on Saturday that he risked being poisoned, his legal adviser said, fuelling swirling rumours over the demise of the former Yugoslav leader while on trial for war crimes.

The claim was dismissed by chief war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte, who said his suicide could not be ruled out.

Mr Milosevic was found dead in his prison bed at the tribunal in The Hague, where he was on trial for genocide and war crimes over the Balkan wars, which killed more than 200,000 people.

Zdenko Tomanovic, who advised Mr Milosevic during his long trial, read from a letter the ousted president had written on Friday to the Russian embassy.

“‘They would like to poison me. I’m seriously concerned and worried’,” he quoted Mr Milosevic as writing.

Mr Tomanovic said Mr Milosevic cited a medical report which showed ‘strong drugs’ in his system normally used for treating leprosy or tuberculosis.

Hardcore loyalists to the man branded the ‘Butcher of the Balkans’ accused the UN court of responsibility for his death, some even laying accusations of murder by poisoning.

Del Ponte dismissed such allegations as ‘rumours’.

“We must now wait for the results of the autopsy to see the cause of death but we have no choice (but) between a normal natural death and suicide,” she told a news conference.

The tribunal requested the autopsy to establish an exact cause of death of Mr Milosevic, who had a history of heart problems.

FM ‘ASHAMED’: In Belgrade, as the news sank in that Mr Milosevic was dead, Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic said he was ‘ashamed’ at the praise being lavished by loyalists on the man who once ruled with an iron grip.

Mr Draskovic, a fiery critic of Mr Milosevic’s regime, condemned those who lauded someone whose policies produced only ‘death, misfortune and hatred’.

“By promoting a serial killer into a national hero,” he told Tanjug news agency, “his victims are murdered again and Serbia disgraces itself ... as the state in which crime is a supreme virtue.”

Del Ponte, the war crimes prosecutor, said it was ‘a great pity for justice’ that Mr Milosevic died before any verdict.

She said it was now more urgent than ever to arrest other most wanted war crimes fugitives: former Bosnian Serb army chief Ratko Mladic and the wartime political leader of the Bosnian Serbs, Radovan Karadzic.

Survivors of the Srebrenica massacre said Mr Milosevic had cheated justice but Serbian newspapers lashed out at the tribunal itself, accusing it of murder.

“The Hague killed Milosevic,” blared the front pages of both Press and Glas Javnosti, against black backgrounds bearing large portrait pictures.

Dozens of hardcore supporters queued to pay tribute in front of his party seat in central Belgrade, where a large photograph of Mr Milosevic and a book of condolences were laid on a table in the entrance hall.

“Slobo, Serbia has died with you,” said a written message placed nearby.—AFP