Thousands gathered in Belgrade on Monday to pay their respects at the funeral and burial of former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic.
Earlier that day, Serbian Patriarch Porfirije personally officiated the funeral service for the former general, who passed away while serving a life sentence in The Hague for genocide in Srebrenica and other war crimes committed during the violent dissolution of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
Honoring his final wishes, Mladic was buried at Topcider Cemetery alongside his daughter, who took her own life in 1994.
Informer TV, a staunchly pro-government broadcaster, provided live coverage of the event, which it described as a “magnificent farewell,” while omitting any mention of the roughly 8,000 Bosniak civilians and prisoners massacred by Mladic’s forces in Srebrenica in July 1995.
President Vucic Absent from Funeral
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic did not attend the service, citing a previously scheduled visit from his counterpart in Uzbekistan.
Observers note that the president has attempted to strike a delicate balance regarding Mladic’s funeral arrangements.
Though not accorded state honors, Mladic was buried with military honors. Vucic insisted that the state was simply honoring the family’s wishes and ensuring a dignified burial.
“Were we supposed to forbid people from attending, forbid the funeral itself, and create dog cemeteries?” he remarked in response to European Union criticism.
The term “dog cemeteries” in Serbia refers to the unmarked graves of so-called “enemies of the people” executed by Yugoslav partisans during and immediately following World War II.
Vucic was equally dismissive of EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos’s decision to cancel a planned visit to Belgrade, labeling her reaction “stupid.” He has similarly brushed aside other criticism regarding the public glorification of Mladic.
An EU spokesman stated in a release that “Any glorification of war criminals, genocide denial, and revisionism contradict the most fundamental European values and have no place in the EU or in EU candidate countries.”
A Politically Sensitive Moment for Vucic
For Vucic, who has long sought to balance Serbia between the European Union and Russia, the situation presents a politically delicate challenge.
He is expected to call a snap parliamentary election as early as this week, likely taking place on October 25.
For the first time in years, there is a credible possibility that his ruling bloc could be defeated by the student movement, which has spearheaded anti-government protests across Serbia for nearly two years.
Vucic is expected to lead the list of his Serbian Progressive Party as its candidate for prime minister.
Elections Loom in Bosnia and Herzegovina
According to Dejan Bursac, a political scientist at the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory in Belgrade, all signs indicate a president increasingly anxious about the upcoming vote.
“Vucic is grasping at every available lifeline,” Bursac told DW. “One of those lifelines is Mladic’s funeral and the nationalism it can generate, allowing Vucic to present himself as a patriot while portraying his political opponents as traitors.”
Bursac noted that many Serbs still feel deep resentment over the outcome of the Yugoslav wars, claiming that crimes committed against Serbs during the conflict largely went unpunished. “That sentiment is now being deliberately inflamed and politically exploited,” he said.
Tanja Topic, a political analyst from Banja Luka in the predominantly Serb entity of Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina—where Srebrenica is located—observes a similar dynamic.
“Politics here rests heavily on emotion,” she told DW. “This is an issue around which citizens are mobilized. They forget how difficult their lives are because patriotic fervor takes over.”
Bosnia and Herzegovina will head to the polls before Serbia, with elections scheduled there for October 4.
Students Take a Different Approach
In Serbia, the student movement—a coalition of faculty assemblies and protest groups operating without formal leaders—has largely refrained from commenting on Mladic, the funeral, or wartime crimes on its social media channels.
Analysts note that both Vucic’s party and the student-backed electoral list, expected to include respected professors, activists, and other public figures, are attempting to function as broad “catch-all” political platforms.
In Serbia, that means neither side can afford to alienate nationalistically minded voters. “Especially because the election will most likely be decided by a very narrow margin,” said Bursac.
The students, he argued, have recognized that for many citizens, campaigning for the rule of law, democracy, and against systemic corruption is sufficient.
The protest movement originated with university blockades following the collapse of a canopy at the newly renovated railway station in Novi Sad, Serbia’s second-largest city, in November 2024, which killed sixteen people.
Although prosecutors have opened several investigations, including into possible corruption linked to construction contracts, no trial has yet commenced.
The Power of Media Control
Few people in Serbia place much faith in opinion polls. Nevertheless, it is widely assumed that both the ruling party and the student movement command roughly 40% support each.
The government directly or indirectly controls most television stations and major news outlets, many of which frequently publish identical content.
In recent days, the pro-Vucic tabloid Informer has targeted anyone who describes Mladic as a war criminal, branding such critics as “professional haters of Serbs” and “traitors.”
Yet political narratives in Serbia shift rapidly. Vucic alone appeared on television roughly 400 times last year. By the time voters head to the polls in late October, he will almost certainly need a new issue to rally supporters around.
Mladic’s funeral is unlikely to sustain him all the way to election day.
