Milosevic daughter denies gun charges

Marija Milosevic appeared at the court in Belgrade

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- Slobodan Milosevic's daughter denied on Friday she had endangered people's lives as her father was taken to prison, telling a Belgrade court she had fired at the sky because she felt miserable.

Marija Milosevic went on trial accused of endangering public safety by firing shots as the ousted president was escorted from his villa after a 36-hour standoff involving his security guards on April 1.

Witnesses had said she fired five pistol shots, and local media said bullets hit the car of a government negotiator who persuaded Milosevic to surrender on charges of corruption and abuse of office. No injuries were reported.

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But, Marija told the Belgrade municipal court on the opening day of her trial: "I fired into the sky, which was dark blue. I fired all five bullets that a Smith & Wesson holds. I fired out of misery.

"If you can fire out of happiness, it can be done also out of unhappiness," Beta news agency quoted her as saying.

She said she had been very upset that night, adding she had taken seven or eight tranquillisers followed by a bottle of brandy, believing the pills had not worked.

"I saw on (local) BK television people with stockings on their faces in front of the residence. A price of $5 million was set on my father's head, I thought those (people) were bounty hunters and they would shoot us ... I felt threatened," she said.

She told the court she had had three guns, two of her own and one belonging to her father. "Guns were in a drawer in my father's dressing room," she said.

Marija ran a Belgrade-based television station when her father ruled the country.

She has kept a low profile since he was ousted in a popular revolt on October 5, 2000. Slobodan Milosevic is now in detention at the U.N. war crimes court in The Hague, facing trial for atrocities committed during the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

Marija visited Milosevic regularly during his three months in a Belgrade jail but, unlike her mother and sister-in-law, has not visited him in The Hague.

Beta said her trial would continue on March 7.