This Europe: Comeback concert of Arkan's widow turns into anthem to indicted Serb warlord

Greeted by the deafening cheers of some 100,000 fans, Serbia's most popular folk music star, Ceca Raznatovic, strutted her stuff in a triumphant comeback at the weekend.

Better known abroad as the glamorous widow of the notorious Serb warlord Arkan, the goddess of "turbo-folk" sang for three hours at Marakana stadium, Belgrade, in sizzling heat on Saturday evening. Her fans accompanied her, knowing all the words of her songs by heart.

Ceca, 29, dedicated her first concert since Arkan's death to her husband. "I'll never marry again ... In the five years of our marriage, I lived a life of a princess, a fairytale," she said in a recent interview.

Zeljko Raznatovic, known as Arkan, was shot dead in 2000 in a Belgrade hotel lobby. No motive has yet been established. The 48-year-old leader of the paramilitary "Tigers" was wanted by the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague for atrocities in the Bosnian and Croatian wars. Fearing for the two children she had with Arkan, Anastasija and Veljko, Ceca now travels in a bullet-proof car.

Millions of Serbs watched the comeback concert aired live by "Pink", the most popular Serbian television station.

The audience had poured into Belgrade from all over Serbia and Montenegro. Tickets were sold at the cheap price of 150 and 300 dinars (£1.50 and £3), ensuring the show's success.

"The Marakana concert was one of the wishes of my late husband ... I'm fulfilling his wish," Ceca said. Marakana was the start for Arkan's rise to prominence in Serbia in the early 1990s. An armed robber, who was convicted in Belgium, Sweden and Italy before returning to Yugoslavia, he turned Red Star football club fans into paramilitaries to fight in Croatia.

She inherited the Obilic football club from Arkan, who after his paramilitary days reversed the fortunes of a second division team to see it win the premier league title in 1998. Although Arkan was not mentioned on stage, she sang three songs clearly in his memory: "Let me see him again," "Dead Sea" and "My darling."

At the end, Ceca's children joined her on stage, to chants of "Arkan, Arkan". Five-year-old Veljko made the Serb three-finger salute while Anastasija, four, danced around her glamorous mother, whose dress hid almost nothing, including her recent breast implants.