Belgrade  - The late Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic, who died while on a genocide trial at the United Nations war crimes tribunal, was "the hero of all heroes," a government minister was quoted as saying by Monday's press in Belgrade.

"Of course he's the greatest hero. The verdicts against heroes who defended their country are shameful - and how a country is defended was shown best by Milosevic, the whole world saw that," the daily Blic quoted the Infrastructure Minister Milutin Mrkonjic.

He was referring to trials at The Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia, which had accused Milosevic of genocide and other war crimes for his crucial role in fomenting wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s.

Mrkonjic, a high-ranking official Milosevic's Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), held the same portfolio when the regime was toppled in massive riots in 2000. The SPS returned to power as the junior partner in President Boris Tadic's pro-European coalition.

Milosevic died in March 2006 in his ICTY cell, after four years on trial but before the verdict stage.

Coming as close as possible to condemning the already dead Milosevic, ICTY on Thursday sentenced his deputy in the SPS and four army and police generals to nearly
100 years in prison for atrocities committed by security forces in Kosovo. (dpa)