Marković

Former Serbian State Security Unit for Special Operations, commander Milorad "Legija" Ulemek, refused to answer questions about the murder of Serbian journalist Slavko Curuvija at the Belgrade Court of Appeal.

Legija told the court that he stands by his 2014 statement from the investigation and his 2016 statement from the first trial.

Former head of Serbian State Security Radomir Markovic repeated to the appeal court that he is not guilty for the 1999 murder of the Serbian journalist and editor Slavko Curuvija.

Markovic claimed that Curuvija was only put under state surveillance "due to his contacts with foreign intelligence agencies …The task of every state security is to establish the nature of these contacts".

Belgrade Higher Court on Thursday found four former Serbian state security employees guilty after a retrial of the murder in 1999 of journalist and editor Slavko Curuvija, who was known for his opposition to the regime of Slobodan Milosevic.

Higher Prosecutor's Office in Jagodina in central Serbia told BIRN that it will examine claims that veteran MP and senior municipal official Dragan 'Palma' Markovic was involved in parties at which underage girls were sexually exploited.

The Higher Prosecutor's Office in Jagodina in central Serbia told BIRN that it will examine claims that veteran MP and senior municipal official Dragan 'Palma' Markovic was involved in parties at which underage girls were sexually exploited.

Mirjana Markovic with her husband, Slobodan Milosevic, in 1997. Photo: Srdjan Suki/EPA.

The urn containing the ashes of Mirjana Markovic, widow of former Serbian and Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, was buried next to her late husband in the garden of their family home in the eastern Serbian town of Pozarevac on Saturday.

Mirjana Markovic in 2001. Photo: Koca Sulejmanovic/EPA.

Mirjana Markovic, the widow of the former president of Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milosevic, died in hospital in Moscow on Sunday, Serbian media reported.

Markovic is reported to have undergone surgery several times in Russia recently, after which her condition deteriorated. The cause of death was not immediately made public.

Curuvija was the owner of the mass-circulation Dnevni Telegraf, Serbia's first private daily, and the weekly magazine Evropljanin, independent regional news website Balkan Insight reported, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said in a press release the same day.

Markovic - the widow of former Serbian and Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic - was first found guilty and sentenced in June last year, on charges of influencing a government commission in 2000 to illegally assign a state-owned apartment to her grandchild's nanny, the daily Blic is reporting.

The Higher Court's verdict comes almost 15 years after the initiation of criminal proceedings in the case.

Markovic was tried in absentia as she is inaccessible to Serbia's judicial authorities. An international warrant was issued for her arrest in 2005.