Biljana Kovacevic Vuco | Serbian activist, 58

Biljana Kovacevic Vuco, 58, one of Serbia's most prominent human-rights activists, has died.

Ms. Kovacevic Vuco, who played an important role in Serbia's fledgling human-rights and antiwar movement during the 1990s rule of late strongman Slobodan Milosevic, died Tuesday after a long illness, said YUCOM, the group she headed.

Serbia's human-rights groups were a rare voice of opposition in the former Yugoslavia against the ethnic bloodshed fomented by Milosevic's nationalism.

Ms. Kovacevic Vuco was also a prominent critic of Milosevic's autocratic policies at home. As a legal expert, she headed YUCOM, which offered legal assistance to the victims of abuse.

- AP