Austrians mourned the death of President Thomas Klestil, whose casket was laid in state yesterday at the presidential office. He was to be buried with state honors on Saturday.

　　Klestil, 71, died on Tuesday of multiple organ failure, just two days before the end of his second six-year term.

　　Four days of mourning began with Klestil's casket arriving yesterday at the presidential office in Vienna, Austria. Thousands of people were expected to file past the casket, which was draped with the Austrian flag and flanked by military honor guards, to pay their final respects.

　　A memorial service open to the public is to be held tomorrow in a chapel in the Hofburg, the imperial palace in central Vienna where the presidency is based. Klestil is to be laid to rest on Saturday in a state funeral at Vienna's Central Cemetery following a requiem Mass at St Stephen's Cathedral, the Austria Press Agency said.

　　Condolences came in from around the world for a leader praised for improving Austria's standing in the world and for developing relations with emerging Eastern European nations.

　　Russian President Vladimir Putin called Klestil "an outstanding Austrian statesman, a politician with great international authority, and a consistent proponent of the development of friendly ties of partnership between our countries."

　　German President Horst Koehler said, "Austria and Europe have lost an outstanding statesman; Germany lost a friend."

　　Their words of praise were echoed by Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel, who took over the presidency earlier this week when Klestil fell ill. "Austria lost a great personality, a committed Austrian and European, who had dedicated his life to serve his country and its people," he said.

　　Klestil also was credited with helping to distance Austria from its Nazi past after years of controversy over his predecessor Kurt Waldheim's World War II service in the German army. Klestil's first term included a visit to Israel, where he expressed sympathy for Holocaust victims.

　　"President Klestil was a man of honor and a man of word whose personal integrity and openness helped rebuild relations with the United States and the Jewish world following the controversy surrounding the WWII record of his predecessor Kurt Waldheim," said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the US-based Wiesenthal Center.

　　The Viennese-born Klestil studied economics and business and earned a doctorate in 1957. He worked for the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development before becoming a diplomat.

　　(The Associated Press)