Serbia's NATO ambassador jumps to his death

This is weird and sad. AP:

Serbia’s ambassador to NATO was chatting and joking with colleagues in a multistory parking garage at Brussels Airport when he suddenly strolled to a barrier, climbed over and flung himself to the ground below, a diplomat said.

By the time his shocked colleagues reached him, Branislav Milinkovic was dead.

His motives are a mystery. Three diplomats who knew Milinkovic said he did not appear distraught in the hours leading up to his death Tuesday night. He seemed to be going about his regular business, they said, picking up an arriving delegation of six Serbian officials who were to hold talks with NATO, the alliance that went to war with his country just 13 years ago.

Belgian authorities confirmed that the ambassador had killed himself.

“It was indeed a suicide,” said Ine Van Wymersch of the Brussels prosecutor’s office. She said no further investigation was planned.

It must be rather traumatic to be in a jovial conversation with someone one minute, then witness them abruptly leap to their death the next. Milinkovic, who was an anti-Milosevic activist back in the late 1980s, was appointed a special ambassador to NATO in 2004 in conjunction with “Partnership For Peace”, a NATO program which attempts to sustain friendly relations between NATO and non-NATO states in Europe. Our best wishes go out to Milinkovic’s loved ones.