Former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic may have died after deliberately taking harmful medicines to make him look more ill, its claimed.

A toxicology expert at Groningen University has been analyising a blood sample taken from Milosevic two weeks ago. Analysis showed he had taken Rifampicin, an anti TB drug .

64 year old Milosevic was already receiving treatment for a heart condition and high blood pressure. He was found dead in his cell at the International Tribunal in The Hague on Saturday.

Recently Milosevic had been pressing the Tribunal to allow him to go to Russia for medical treatment. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said the former Serbian leader had complained in a letter to Moscow that he was not getting adequate medical treatment.

The Russians want their own post mortem examination. Doctors from Moscow claim Milosevic would still be alive if he had been cared for correctly. Russian specialists are due in the Netherlands today to inspect the body.

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