World

Tito's Widow Breaks Her Silence

December 13, 2001 / 8:30 AM EST / AP

Breaking a 20-year silence, the widow of former Yugoslav communist leader Josip Broz Tito said in comments published Thursday that she has been stripped of basic human rights and is living a life of "despair and misery."

Jovanka Broz, 77, told the Blic daily that she lives in a Belgrade house without heating, and often no electricity, and that she has no funds or property to support herself.

"I'm totally deprived of any rights," Broz said. "All my property has been taken away from me."

She told Blic that even her pension is still in dispute nearly 22 years after the death of her husband.

Tito died on May 4, 1980. Broz was evicted soon afterward from their residence in the plush Belgrade Dedinje district to a nearby government house. Since then, she has lived in a self-imposed isolation under police protection.

Vilified by some, adored by others, Tito was a tough communist who ruled Yugoslavia from the end of World War II until his death at age 88. Broz and Tito informally split up shortly before his death, leaving her unpopular among his communist successors.

Broz told Blic that since the ouster of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic in October 2000, "I had hoped things would change for me, but nothing happened."

"My house has not been heated for two years and I live like on a peak of an ice hill," Ms. Broz said. "The house is big, and I have no financial means for repairs."

"Some of my valuables were found under Milosevic's bedroom after his arrest," she said, without giving details. She complained that despite repeated demands, her property was never returned to her.

Reacting to her complaints, Yugoslav government officials said they had tried to send a repairmen to the house but that security guards did not allow them in.