Slobodan Milošević

Born in Požarevac in 1941, Slobodan Milošević studied law at the University of Belgrade and rose through Yugoslav communist structures in the 1960s and 70s as protégé of Serbian leader Ivan Stambolić, whom he ousted in 1987. He became president of Serbia in 1989, led the anti-bureaucratic revolution, reduced the power of autonomous provinces, and transitioned the state into a multi-party system while his Socialist Party retained control over economic resources. His presidency saw mass anti-government protests, hundreds of thousands deserting the army, and mass emigration. During the NATO bombing in 1999, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia charged him with war crimes connected to the Bosnian, Croatian, and Kosovo wars. He resigned in 2000 after disputed elections and demonstrations, was arrested in 2001 on corruption charges, then extradited to The Hague. He refused to appoint counsel and defended himself until he died of a heart attack in his cell in March 2006 before the trial concluded. Post-mortem findings by international tribunals placed him within a joint criminal enterprise using ethnic cleansing to remove Croats, Bosniaks, and