[JURIST] Serbian Justice Minister Dusan Petrovic [official profile, in Serbian] signed an extradition request [press release] Thursday for the widow and son of former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic [JURIST news archive]. Mirjana Markovic [BBC profile] and her son Marko currently reside in Russia but are wanted in Serbia on charges [JURIST report] related their alleged involvement in a cigarette smuggling ring in the early 1990s. Markovic and her son have denied the allegations but refuse to return to Serbia to face charges. A spokesman for the Russian Federal Migration Service said that Markovic and Milosevic were granted refugee status in March 2006 in accordance with a UN convention. Serbian prosecutors said earlier this month that the two could be tried in absentia [JURIST report].

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. Slobodan Milosevic died from heart failure [JURIST report] in March 2006 while in detention at The Hague. RIA Novosti has more.