POZAREVAC: Several dozen supporters attended the funeral on Saturday of Mirjana Markovic, the widow of late Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic who was dubbed the “Lady Macbeth” of the Balkans because of the huge influence she had on her husband.

Markovic’s ashes were placed in her husband’s grave in the backyard of the family house in the central Serbian town of Pozarevac. Milosevic was buried there in 2006 after he died in the middle of his trial on genocide charges at a UN war crimes tribunal.

Markovic, 76, died last week in Russia, where she had been granted asylum. Serbia’s former first lady had fled to Russia in 2003 after Milosevic was ousted from power in a popular revolt and handed over to the war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands.

Markovic, who had been a sociology professor at Belgrade University, served as leader of a neo-Communist party during her husband’s presidency in the 1990s, a coalition partner with a major influence on Milosevic.

Often wearing a trademark plastic flower in her hair, Markovic was known for “diaries” she published in local newspapers that were widely read because they often predicted future political moves by her husband.

Published in Dawn, April 21st, 2019