Ex-Yugoslav President dies in prison

Amsterdam, Netherlands: Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has been found dead in his prison cell in The Hague, Netherlands, according to the United Nations tribunal. He was 64.

Milosevic had suffered a heart condition and high blood pressure which had repeatedly interrupted his trial in the Hague on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes during the bloody disintegration of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

The U.N. Security Council established the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in 1993, and Milosevic was charged with 66 counts involving war crimes during the Balkan wars.

The counts included Milosevic's role in the fighting that plagued the disputed Serbian province of Kosovo and the civil warfare that erupted in Bosnia and Croatia after the fall of Yugoslavia.

Ethnic strife raged in Yugoslavia's six republics as the nation began to dissolve after the fall of communism.

Milosevic's trial began February 12, 2002.

Milosevic was defending himself against allegations by authorities that he backed and sometimes authorized violence by Serb forces.

He faced charges of crimes against humanity, violations of the laws and customs of war and genocide, a charge emanating from the Bosnian conflict, in which thousands of Bosnian Muslims were killed or chased from their homes by Bosnian Serb forces in Srebrenica and Sarajevo. (Read about charges being filed in those massacres)

Milosevic pleaded not guilty to all counts, saying that he wasn't responsible for ordering killings and rapes. He could be sent to prison for life if found guilty.

The prosecution closed its case in February 2004, and Milosevic was given six months to prepare his defense, which began in August 2004.

His defense has focused solely on the Kosovo indictments, seen as the most potent because Milosevic was directly in charge of the Serb-led troops during the fighting in Kosovo, a majority Albanian area key to Serbian identity.

The former Yugoslav president had called 48 witnesses to back up his arguments. He requested more time for witnesses, but was denied.

(With AP inputs)