BOSNIA: More than 100,000 mourners gathered yesterday for the funeral of Bosnian wartime leader and former president Alija Izetbegovic, as word of his investigation for war crimes cast a pall over the ceremony.
The UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague confirmed hours before the funeral began in Sarajevo that Mr Izetbegovic had been under investigation until his death on Sunday at the age of 78.
Mr Izetbegovic led Bosnia's fight for independence from the former Yugoslavia and many Bosnian Muslims see him as the "father of the nation", who defended them against Serb aggression and genocide and fought Serb and Croat separatism in the 1992-95 war.
Mr Izetbegovic was buried among those Muslims who died in the siege of Sarajevo, in which 12,000 people were killed over 43 months.
The international community's High Representative for Bosnia, Mr Paddy Ashdown, said in a funeral speech that Mr Izetbegovic "became the father of his people and the person who did more than any other to ensure today the survival of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina".
Mr Izetbegovic resigned from politics in 2000, the last to leave office of the Serb-Croat-Bosnian trio who signed the Dayton treaty ending the war. He was seen in the west as a moderate.