Slobodan Milosevic

In 1971, he tied the knot with his childhood sweetheart Mirjana Markovic. The couple was blessed with two children, Marko and Marija.

He suffered from heart problems and high blood pressure during his stay in the jail at Hague.

Before the trial could be concluded, he suffered from a heart attack and was found dead in his cell in the UN war crimes tribunal's detention center on March 11, 2006. Since he passed away before the end of the trial, he was never found guilty of the charges against him.

Slobodan Milosevic was born to Svetozar Miloševic and Stanislava Resanovic in the Axis invaded land of Požarevac, in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. While his father was a Serb Orthodox priest, his mother was a school teacher and an active member of the Communist Party.

He attained a degree in law from the University of Belgrade's Law School. While at law school, he was the head of ideology committee of the Yugoslav Communist League's (SKJ) student branch (SSOJ).

It was during his days at the university that he became friends with Ivan Stambolic. The friendship proved to be instrumental as through Stambolic, he was introduced to the president of Serbian Executive Council, Petar Stambolic, who was also Ivan Stambolic’s uncle.

In 1966, upon completing his graduation, he began a career in the management and banking sector. First and foremost, he served as an economic advisor to the Mayor of Belgrade. Two years henceforth, he secured a job for himself at the Tehnogas Company.

Due to his acquaintance with Petar Stambolic, he rose to become the chairman of the Tehnogas Company by 1973. Further capitalizing on the relationship, he became the head of Beobanka, one of the largest banks in Yugoslavia.

He entered politics in 1984 as a prot�g� of the Belgrade League of Communists City Committee. By 1986, he became the president of the SKJ's Serbian branch Central Committee at the 10th Congress of the Serbian League of Communists.

Starting 1987, he was reckoned as a powerful force in Serbian politics. He strongly supported the Serbs in Kosovo to the point of going against the government and the ethnic group of the region, Albanians.

No sooner, his radical politics was criticized as he was looked upon as a nationalistic and a violator of the Yugoslav Communists' commitment to Brotherhood and Unity. His anti-bureaucratic revolution led to the resignation of his mentor Stambolic and his emergence to power.

This former President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is often referred to as the ‘Butcher of the Balkans’.