Slobodan Milosevic

Slobodan Milosevic was born on August 20, 1941 in Pozarevac, Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia. He was married to Mira Markovic.

His father, Svetozar, was a teacher of religion from Montenegro. He abandoned family when Milosevic was in elementary school, and later committed suicide by shooting himself in the head in 1962.

Obtained a degree in law from University of Belgrade in 1964.

His mother, Stanislava, was a fervent Communist activist. She committed suicide by hanging herself in her living room in 1974.

Chairman of the Serbian Communist Party from 1986-1989. President of Serbia from 1989 to 1997 and President of Yugoslavia from 1997-2000. President of the Socialist Party of Serbia from 1989-2006.

He became president of the new Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, consisting of Serbia and Montenegro, in 1997.

He's accused of ordering the killing of several hundred people and the expulsion of over 700,000 in Kosovo in 1998-1999, as well as of committing genocide during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war.

September 2000: Following the first round of the Yugoslavian presidential election, the opposition disputed the official results that had his adversary, Vojislav Kostunica, winning slightly under 50% of the vote, thus requiring a run-off election. Following the 5 October coup d'etat (through which the Serbian government, not subject to election, was also captured), the national election commission chose to endorse the opposition's version of the results, and Milosevic reluctantly accepted this and conceded defeat to Kostunica.

On April 1, 2001, he was arrested in Belgrade on local charges ranging from corruption to abuse of his authority.

Prosecuted for war crimes in The Hague, Netherlands, and has been imprisoned. [July 2003]