Thousands of mourners gather in Belgrade for war criminal Mladic’s funeral

Belgrade Convenes State Funeral for Ratko Mladic Amid Escalating European Opposition

The body of Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb commander who passed away while serving a life sentence for war crimes, lay in state on Monday as Serbia defied European Union warnings against paying public homage to the man convicted of the continent’s first genocidal conviction since World II.

Read moreCommemoration held for late Bosnian Serb war criminal Ratko Mladic

Thousands of mourners gathered early at the modest Serbian Orthodox Church of Saint Luke in Belgrade to honour Mladic, who remains venerated as a hero by a significant segment of the population. His military officer’s cap and sabre rested on the coffin, which was preceded by men in combat fatigue.

Pro‑government sources reported that Mladic will receive full military honours, and the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Porfiríje, will preside over the funeral service.

“He was a man who gave everything in his life for the Serbian people,” said Milan Dobric, a mourner who travelled from Kosovo for the occasion. “I am pleased that today’s gathering allows such special respect to be paid.”

Mladic died at 84 on August 27 in The Hague, Netherlands, having served a life sentence for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated by his troops during the Bosnian war of 1992‑1995.

Although the arrangements were officially managed by Mladic’s family, the Serbian government dispatched a plane last week to transport his remains to Belgrade, and soldiers carried the coffin draped in the national flag. A military commemoration was also held at an official Serbian army venue earlier that day.

Serbia, a candidate state aspirant to European Union membership, has faced intense condemnation for planning a memorial to Mladic following his death.

EU enlargement commissioner Marta Kos subsequently cancelled an impending visit, arguing that the surrounding glorification of Mladic conflicts with EU values.

Other European officials, along with regional leaders and survivors’ families, have echoed criticism. The conflict that culminated in this era claimed more than 100,000 lives and left over one million people displaced before ending in a U.S.–brokered peace in 1995.

Read moreSerbian war criminal Ratko Mladic to be buried with «state honours»

Populist President Aleksandar Vučić, a former hardliner who championed expansionist policies during the Bosnian War, dismissed EU protest as unfounded, accusing officials of «lying». He is not present at the funeral and has escalated his anti‑Western rhetoric ahead of an imminent parliamentary poll expected next month.

Mladic received his 2017 verdict for mastermind the massacre of more than 8,000 Muslim civilians in Srebrenica in 1995, the protracted siege of Sarajevo and related war‑crime acts, including the creation of concentration camps for detained non‑Serb citizens and soldiers.

Serbia’s involvement in backing Bosnian Serb forces during the war is often cited by Belgrade as justification for its defensive actions; however, the nation continues to reject acknowledgment that genocide occurred in Srebrenica, describing the atrocity instead as a «horrifying crime». The previous year saw Serbia bury another convicted war criminal, former army chief of staff Néboja Pavlović, with full military honours at a distinguished individuals cemetery.

The Balkans‑wide campaign has stalled Serbia’s EU candidacy owing to democratic backsliding and Vučić’s refusal to impose sanctions against Russia over the Ukrainian invasion, further complicating Western integration prospects.

A United Nations‑designated safe haven in Bosnia quickly fell under the control of Serb forces in 1995, resulting in mass grave sites where men and boys were stripped, murdered and interred. The conflict erupted after the dissolution of the former Yugoslav federation, when ethnic Serbs seized territories and sought union with Serbia.

(FRANCE 24 with AP)

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