Crowds gather in Belgrade for Ratko Mladic’s funeral

Hundreds of people gathered in Belgrade to pay their respects to Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb military commander convicted of genocide over the 1995 Srebrenica massacre. Many mourners arrived outside St Luke’s Church from early morning, while police blocked surrounding streets as the crowd grew.

A military band and honour guard led the slow procession to the Tocider cemetery. Mladic’s coffin, covered by Serbian and Republika Srpska flags, was carried on a military vehicle. His son, Darko, carried the general’s sabre alongside Mladic’s grandchildren and widow.

Serbian Orthodox Patriarch Porfirije and other priests recited prayers and blessed the coffin with incense. After brief remarks by Minister Selavkovic and Darko Mladic, the crowd broke into chants and the military honour guard fired three shots into the air. Darko’s emotional speech, repeatedly interrupted by tears, moved people in the crowd and drew applause.

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I am here to say a final farewell to the general, a national hero.

The scene around the church included Serbian flags, shirts praising Mladic and a large banner welcoming the general and thanking his mother for giving birth to a hero. Radojka Visic, a pensioner who travelled from Republika Srpska, called him a national hero and accused the international community of sending him to prison after failing to defeat his forces on the battlefield.

International media gave Mladic the nickname “Butcher of Bosnia” for atrocities committed during the wars that accompanied the breakup of Yugoslavia. Despite his convictions, he is still regarded as a hero by some Serbs, particularly in Republika Srpska, where his death was commemorated with vigils.

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They did not manage to defeat us on the battlefield, so they sent him to prison and tortured him there.