[JURIST] The widow and son of former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic [JURIST news archive] could be tried in absentia on charges that the two organized a cigarette smuggling ring in Serbia during the 1990s, Serbian organized crime prosecutor Miljko Radisavljevic said Tuesday. Mirjana Markovic [BBC profile; Interpol warrant] and her son Marko Milosevic [Interpol warrant] currently reside in Russia and have been granted refugee status by the Russian government. Markovic is also being investigated for her alleged involvement in the 2000 assassination of former Serbian President Ivan Stambolic.

Last June, Serbia's top organized crime prosecutor indicted [JURIST report] Markovic and her son on the smuggling charges. In July 2006, a Serbian court reissued an international arrest warrant for Markovic because she had on multiple occasions failed to appear in court [JURIST reports] to face abuse of power charges. AP has more.