Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina/Belgrade, Serbia – Thousands of people have gathered in Belgrade for the funeral of convicted war criminal Ratko Mladic, despite warnings against the “glorification” of the former Bosnian Serb army general. Mladic, 84, died on August 27 while serving a life sentence for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the 1992–1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. His body was returned to Serbia on a government plane last week, sparking condemnation in the region and beyond.
Dubbed “the butcher of Bosnia“, Mladic was buried on Monday in a coffin wrapped in the Serbian flag, with full military honours and the participation of government members. Among those in attendance were Serbian opposition figures; former and current officials of Republika Srpska, one of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s two entities; pro-Serbian politicians from neighbouring Montenegro and Russia’s Ambassador to Serbia Alexandar Botsan-Kharchenko. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, who has sought to maintain good relations with both Western countries and Russia, did not attend the funeral.
Mladic’s family had publicly thanked the president for his support, and Vucic also backed what he described as a “dignified funeral”. Vucic’s son, Danilo, was also present at the funeral. Ahead of the ceremony, the police had blocked off the parts of the city where the church and the cemetery are located.
From the early morning, Mladic’s body lay in state at St. Luke church near the cemetery. The main religious service was led by Patriarch Porfirije, head of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
Some people waited for hours to pay their respects to Mladic, whose legacy continues to divide Serbian society and fuel tensions in the region, even 30 years after the end of the war. Last week, European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos cancelled an official visit to Belgrade over Mladic’s funeral. She said “the glorification surrounding his death is incompatible with the values on which the EU path is built”, adding that the way Mladic was being treated in Serbia reminded Europe of “the darkest pages of our recent history”.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also warned against actions that glorify convicted war criminals. Civil society organisations in Serbia criticised and protested the decision to give Mladic military honours, calling it a slap in the face to victims and survivors. Belgrade-based sociologist Marko Oljaca said that although President Vucic did not attend the funeral, he had mobilised an entire machinery that mythologises and humanises Mladic while denying and relativising his crimes.
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