BRUSSELS, March 12 (Xinhuanet) -- The body of the former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic has been moved to the NFI Dutch medical-legal institute for an autopsy to establish how the 64-year-old died.

    Serbia and Montenegro's Minister for Human Rights and Ethnic Minorities Rasim Ljajic arrived in the Netherlands on Sunday morning with the two pathologists due to carry out the procedure, which was set to begin at 1200 GMT on Sunday, a spokeswoman of Ljajic said.

    The authorities hope the autopsy will put to rest claims that Milosevic was murdered. The former Yugoslav president died just months before the verdict was due in his four-year-old trial.

    Carla del Ponte, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), said on Sunday she could not rule out that Milosevic might have committed suicide, but added that she wanted to wait for the results of the autopsy before reaching any conclusions.

    "Of course it could be possible," she said.

    Milosevic's death is the second in a week at the tribunal's detention center. Former Croatian Serb leader Milan Babic committed suicide in his cell on March 5.

    Del Ponte expected initial results of the autopsy on Milosevic to be released late on Sunday or on Monday, although she noted that results of toxicology tests could take longer.

    Del Ponte said medical checks on Milosevic, who was found dead in his cell on Saturday, were thorough and would have picked up if his heart condition and high blood pressure had worsened.

    "It is very strange, even if it is of course possible, that he should have died so suddenly without the medics having noticed a worsening of his condition," she said.

    A spokeswoman of the ICTY said on Saturday that there was no indication that Milosevic had committed suicide. Enditem