Crowds gather in Belgrade for Ratko Mladic’s funeral

A military band, an honor guard and Serbian Orthodox priests led Ratko Mladic’s coffin through Belgrade’s Tocider cemetery as crowds gathered to bury the former Bosnian Serb military commander.

The coffin, covered by Serbian and Republika Srpska flags, traveled on a military vehicle in a slow procession. Mladic’s son, Darko, carried his father’s saber alongside the general’s grandchildren and widow. Patriarch Porfirije of Serbia and other priests recited prayers and blessed the coffin with incense.

Darko Mladic spoke after the ceremony’s religious rites, repeatedly breaking down in tears. His emotion moved people in the crowd, who applauded. The military honor guard then fired three shots into the air.

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

People had begun arriving at Belgrade’s Church of St. Luke at 7 a.m. to pay their respects. Many kissed the closed coffin as Orthodox priests prayed. Police blocked nearby roads as the crowd grew, while AFP journalists saw large numbers outside the church, including people wearing shirts praising Mladic.

Serbian flags hung nearby, and a huge banner read: “Welcome, General, and thank your mother for giving birth to a hero, so Serbia’s glory may return.” One mourner, Radojka Visic, described Mladic as a national hero and accused the international community of imprisoning and torturing him after failing to defeat his forces on the battlefield. International media gave Mladic the nickname “the Butcher of Bosnia.” He was convicted of genocide in connection with the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, but some Serbs, especially in Republika Srpska, still honor him.

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