Former Slovenian president Drnovsek dies aged 57

Ljubljana: Former Slovenian President Janez Drnovsek, a popular politician who helped lead the country to independence in 1991 and later to European Union and Nato membership, died overnight, his office said on Saturday. He was 57.

His office gave no specific cause of death, but said he died at his home.

Drnovsek was admired for his work in keeping violence at a minimum when Slovenia gained independence from Yugoslavia. The country of 2 million currently holds the six-month rotating EU presidency.

In recent years, as he battled cancer, he won the hearts of many of his countrymen again for his radical shift to a holistic lifestyle and his authorship of New Age-influenced books.

Drnovsek served as prime minister from 1992 to 2002, after which he became president. He did not run for a second term in elections late last year and was replaced by Danilo Turk in December. Drnovsek had not been seen in public since then.