BELGRADE, Serbia — Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic sharply criticized a United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague on Friday, calling its decision to deny early release to former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic “uncivilized behavior.” Mladic died on Thursday at the age of 84 while serving a life sentence for atrocities committed during the 1990s Bosnian conflict.
Both Mladic’s family and the Serbian government had repeatedly requested his release, citing his advanced age and declining health. His death came just one week after the United Nations rejected his most recent appeal for release on humanitarian grounds.
“That was uncivilized behavior, unprecedented and without excuse,” Vucic stated. “We can now see that they wanted Mladic to die behind bars.”
The United Nations tribunal responsible for prosecuting war crimes committed during the breakup of Yugoslavia sentenced Mladic to life imprisonment in 2017, a ruling widely regarded as a landmark moment in the pursuit of justice for victims. Mladic had been in custody since 2011.
Known as a ruthless military leader, Mladic stood among the most infamous figures of a conflict that claimed more than 100,000 lives and displaced over one million people. More than thirty years after the wars ended, former Balkan adversaries remain deeply divided over his legacy.
In a ruling issued on August 20, Uruguayan Judge Graciela Gatti Santana, who presides over the U.N. court handling the remaining cases from the now-closed war crimes tribunals, explained the denial of Mladic’s release by pointing to the “comprehensive and compassionate medical care” he had been receiving in detention, as well as “the exceptional visitation regime allowing meaningful family contact.”
On Thursday evening, Bosnian Serbs gathered for candlelight vigils honoring Mladic, whom many continue to regard as a hero despite his conviction.
“He could not have been a better man. Everything else is just a bunch of lies. He would not touch anyone, child, no one. It’s all lies,” said Stojanka Visnjevac, a resident of Kalinovik, Mladic’s small hometown.
In contrast, the families of Mladic’s victims expressed a measure of relief upon learning of his death, viewing it as partial justice for their loss.
Fazila Efendic, who lost several family members during the 1995 massacre of more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica — Europe’s first recognized genocide since World War II — emphasized the importance of Mladic dying in prison.
“We, the victims, are satisfied, when we know that he was convicted to life in prison,” she said. “For us, it is important that he is convicted and that he served his sentence until he died.”
During the war, a United Nations-designated “safe haven” for Muslims in Srebrenica was overrun by Serb forces who separated men and boys, executed them, and bulldozed their remains into mass graves. Under Mladic’s command, Serb forces also besieged the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo and other cities, established concentration camps for non-Serb civilians and captured combatants, and systematically killed prisoners.
Vucic indicated that Belgrade had not yet received information regarding when Mladic’s body would be released to his family.
The Serbian president added that Mladic’s relatives would determine his final resting place. “If the family expresses a wish that he be buried in the territory of Serbia, we will help so it can be done in a dignified way,” Vucic told reporters. He neither confirmed nor denied earlier reports that Mladic would be granted a state funeral, a prospect that had drawn widespread condemnation across the region.
On Thursday, the U.N. court opened an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Mladic’s death, and a judge conducting the investigation visited the detention facility on Friday.
The court, formally designated the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, stated in an email response to questions from The Associated Press that no information on the cause of death would be released until the inquiry concludes.
It further noted that “the relevant Dutch authorities have officially informed the Mechanism that they are not opening a criminal investigation into Mr. Mladic’s death and that they will not be performing an autopsy.”
