[JURIST] A District Court in Belgrade said Monday it would close an outstanding case against late Yugoslav ex-president Slobodan Milosevic for "organizing the murder" of former Serbian president Ivan Stambolic, according to private news agency BETA [media website in Serbian]. A court spokesman said the case, which opened in 2004 [BBC backgrounder], will be closed as soon as a death certificate for Milosevic is received. Prosecutors had argued that Milosevic's secret police abducted and murdered his political mentor and rival, whose body was discovered outside Belgrade [Guardian report] three years after his disappearance.

Milosevic died at The Hague [JURIST report] earlier this month from a heart attack [JURIST report] in the fifth year of his genocide and war crimes trial before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia [official website]. The ICTY has since formally closed its own proceedings [JURIST report] against him. UPI has more.