Giovanni di Stefano, a legal adviser to Milosevic, said he had asked in December last year to be taken for specialist treatment in Russia but the application was refused. Di Stefano said there were "mysterious circumstances" to the death, including why no one had noticed there was a problem until about 8am.

"Milan Babic committed suicide last week. You would have thought they would have woken up. Why wasn't he being checked?"

He also urged Serbian authorities to permit the funeral to be held in Milosevic's birthplace, Pozarevac. "I call on the government to allow President Milosevic to be buried in his home town and for the safe conduct of his wife Mirjana and son and daughter."

Milosevic had been on trial since February 2002, defending himself against 66 counts, including genocide, in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo . . . proceedings repeatedly interrupted by Milosevic's poor health and chronic heart condition.

His death comes less than a week after the star witness in his trial, former Croatian Serb leader Milan Babic, was found dead in the same prison. His testimony in 2002 described a political and military command structure headed by Milosevic in Belgrade that operated behind the scenes. Babic, who was serving a 13-year prison sentence, committed suicide.

Milosevic's death will be a crushing blow to the tribunal and to those who were looking to establish an authoritative historical record of the Balkan wars.

Though the witness testimony is on public record, history will be denied the judgment of a panel of legal experts weighing the evidence of his personal guilt and the story of his regime.

"Unfortunately, he did not face justice for crimes he has committed in Kosovo as well, " Kosovo's deputy prime minister Lufi Haziri said in Pristina.

Last month, the UN's highest court, the International Court of Justice in The Hague, began hearings on a claim by Bosnia that Serbia was responsible for genocide during the 1992-95 Bosnian war . . . the first time a state has been put on trial for the worst crime of international law.

Milosevic was due to complete his defence at the war crimes tribunal this summer. But during months of presenting his case, he barely touched on the Bosnian war or the massacre of more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslims in the enclave of Srebrenica in July 1995.

Instead, he focused on the 1999 war in Kosovo.

Orchestrator of war In the name of unity, Slobodan Milosevic dragged the Balkans into a period of horrendous bloodshed.

The man who was to orchestrate wars that led to the deaths of thousands emerged from a bookish early career as an educated banker with a small family.

But the former communist pounced on barely-submerged tensions between the many ethnic groups and used them to propel himself into power as an incendiary firebrand of Serbian nationalism.

He used his power to bring armed conflict to Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina under the pretext of protecting Croatian and Bosnian Serbs.

Thousands died during 13 years of his rule as the Yugoslav People's Army and Serbian separatists fought ethnic groups across the former Yugoslavian territory.

Tens of thousands were killed in fighting and 400,000 people made homeless.

The UN imposed economic sanctions, bringing further misery for ordinary people. In the years of violence that followed, evidence of Serbia's war crimes began to emerge and the country was isolated by the international community.

Despite renewed conflict in 1995, this time led by a sudden Croatian strike, Milosevic managed to retain power and tried to cultivate an image as a peacemaker. But massive expulsions of ethnic Albanians living in Kosovo by Serb paramilitaries in the late 1990s provoked an international response. NATO forces began bombing Belgrade.

By 1999, the campaign forced Milosevic and other Serbs to agree to withdraw from Kosovo. He faced huge unrest and thousands began protesting against his government in the wake of crippling sanctions and years of war.

Milosevic called elections in 2000 and was beaten by opposition leader Vojislav Kostunica. He refused to recognise the winner but people power . . . in the form of days of continued protests . . . forced him out and his political empire finally crumbled.

In March 2001, Milosevic surrendered to security forces after a warrant was issued after allegations of corruption and abuse of power.

But he was eventually transported to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia to face far more serious matters.

Original charges of war crimes in Kosovo were upgraded by adding charges of genocide in Bosnia and war crimes in Croatia. The trial on 66 counts began at The Hague in February 2002, with Milosevic vociferously defending himself.

Four years later, Milosevic, now suffering heart problems and high blood pressure, pleaded with the judge to allow him to go to Russia for medical treatment.

But the judge ruled he was unlikely to return and must complete the trial, which will now never be concluded.

PA Milosevic timeline

1941: Born in Pozarevac, near Belgrade

1962: His father commits suicide

1964: Graduates from University of Belgrade with law degree.

1972: His mother commits suicide.

Early 1980s: Works for gas company, then becomes director of the United Bank of Belgrade before moving into full-time politics.

1986: Becomes head of Serb Communists.

1989: Inspires nationalist demonstrations, driving out elected leaders to become President of Serbia. Ends Kosovo's autonomy.

1991-1995: Civil war. Milosevic arms Serbs against other ethnic groups. Con"ict starts in Croatia and Slovenia in 1991, spreads to Bosnia in 1992.

1995: Milosevic abandons claims to a 'Greater Serbia' at the Dayton peace talks.

1996-1997: Survives mass protests to become President of Yugoslavia.

1998: Initiates new conflict in Kosovo.

1999: Nato bombs Serbia. Serbs agree to withdraw from Kosovo.

2000: Mass uprising deposes Milosevic.

2001: Surrenders to the War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague.