The wife of former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic has been granted a visa by the Dutch government, allowing her to visit her husband in the United Nations detention facility where he's being held.

Mira Markovic is expected to go to the Hague in the next few days -- as soon as the travel documents are issued by the Dutch embassy in Belgrade. She will be accompanied by her daughter-in-law.

Markovic's lawyers submitted the requests for Dutch visas last week. At the same time, the European Union also waived a travel ban against Markovic.

The Serbian government handed Milosevic over to the UN court on June 28 to face charges of atrocities against Kosovo Albanians in 1999. The court is preparing further indictments for the Bosnian and Croatian wars.

When Milosevic made his first appearance before the UN war crimes tribunal on July 3, he engaged in a dramatic exchange with the chief justice. Milosevic called the court illegitimate and a false tribunal. When asked whether he wanted the charges read out, he told Judge Richard May of Britain that's your problem in English.

The proceedings have been adjourned until August 27.