Former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, in jail facing corruption and abuse of power charges, has been hospitalized for "acute cardiac problems", the Belgrade prosecutors said Thursday in a statement quoted by Tanjug news agency.
The statement said Milosevic was rushed to a military hospital late Wednesday with the authorization of the investigating judge in his case after physicians at Belgrade's central prison, where he has been held since April 1, assessed his condition.
The report marked the first official confirmation of Milosevic's hospitalization but did not provide information on Milosevic's current condition or whereabouts.
A source at Belgrade's central prison, where Milosevic has been held since April 1, said the former Yugoslav strongman had suffered a "mild heart attack" Wednesday evening and was being treated in the prison infirmary Thursday.
"We can say that he suffered a mild heart attack," the source, reached by telephone, told AFP.
Asked whether Milosevic was still at the military hospital, the source said: "He is in a separate room (at the prison infirmary) and being observed by doctors from outside" the prison.
"He is being medically examined and I cannot say anything else until the doctors have finished their examination," added the source, who asked not to be named.
No information was available on the 59-year-old former president's current condition.
Miroslav Vasic, a lawyer working at the Belgrade practice of Milosevic's attorney, Toma Fila, told AFP that the investigation hearings on the Milosevic case had continued Wednesday.
"The defendant's (Milosevic's) presence is not necessary during the investigation, so it continues regardless of his health condition," Vasic said.
"The investigation is continuing normally, two more witnesses are to be heard today," he said, but did not comment on the identity of the witnesses.
Vasic said Milosevic had been treated at the military hospital Wednesday night but did not know his whereabouts Thursday. Both a prison spokesman and officials at the military hospital declined to comment on where Milosevic was now being treated.
Fila has refused to give any details on his client's condition, saying only that a statement would be published later Thursday by a Belgrade court.
Tanjug had reported late Wednesday that Milosevic was rushed to the Belgrade military hospital at about 11:00 pm (2100 GMT) for cardiac trouble due to hypertension.
The daily Vecernje Novosti said Thursday that Milosevic reported heart problems at about 4:00 pm which worsened at about 7:30 pm. His wife Mira Markovic was visiting him at the time, the newspaper said.
The couple then called for medical help and doctors decided to hospitalize Milosevic. He was sent to the military hospital, escorted by special units of the Belgrade police and members of the state security force, the paper said.
Members of Milosevic's Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) visited their leader -- Milosevic remains party president -- in hospital shortly before midnight (2200 GMT) Wednesday, the Beta news agency reported.
They called for his immediate release "due to the unbearable conditions of his detention, which pose a threat to his health.”
Milosevic, indicted for war crimes by the UN tribunal in The Hague which is demanding his handover, was toppled from power last year by democratic reformers and a popular uprising.
He gave himself up to the Yugoslav authorities on April 1, after an armed, more than 30-hour stand-off between his guards and security forces, and has been imprisoned since then in the VIP wing of Belgrade's central prison -- BELGRADE (AFP)
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