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🇷🇸 Serbia /Conflict & Security

Kolarić: Mladić’s guilt was proven beyond doubt, while his hero image rests on half-truths or historical falsification

From N1 Serbia · () Serbian

Translated from Serbian and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Analysis Named sources Outcome reported
  • Humanitarian Law Center representative Jovana Kolarić accused Serbian institutions and public officials of glorifying Ratko Mladić during his funeral in Belgrade.
  • She said Mladić’s conviction for genocide and war crimes was established through a trial involving 592 witnesses and more than 10,000 pieces of evidence.
  • Kolarić argued that a revisionist narrative portrays Serbs as the only victims while excluding victims’ families and others who reject that account.

Jovana Kolarić of the Humanitarian Law Center says Serbia is using state institutions and public offices to celebrate Ratko Mladić, a convicted war criminal whose funeral is taking place in Belgrade.

Our focus must be on that, not on individuals who, for various reasons, may hold personal beliefs that conflict with the facts.

· Jovana KolarićKolarić said attention should focus on the alleged use of state institutions to glorify Mladić.

Speaking to N1, Kolarić said the focus should remain on the abuse of institutions, rather than on individuals whose personal beliefs conflict with established facts. She criticized the presence of the justice minister alongside people who deny the crimes for which Mladić was convicted, arguing that Serbia has committed itself to cooperating with the tribunal and respecting its judgments.

Kolarić said the size of the crowd outside the Church of St. Luke should not be surprising because Serbia’s president, whom she described as standing behind the organization at least ideologically, had announced that turnout would be large. She connected the funeral to what she called years of revisionism in Serbia’s approach to remembering the wars of the 1990s, saying victims and their families have been given little space to speak.

A mythological portrayal of the general who commanded the Army of Republika Srpska.

· Jovana KolarićShe described the public narrative surrounding Mladić and his funeral.

Instead, she said, the public is hearing a “mythological portrayal of the general who commanded the Army of Republika Srpska.” Mladić, the former commander of that army, was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2017 by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for genocide and crimes against humanity committed during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The trial heard 592 witnesses and included more than 10,000 pieces of evidence.

Ratko Mladić’s guilt was absolutely proven, and there is no doubt about what kind of person he is.

· Jovana KolarićShe cited the tribunal’s evidence and witnesses in rejecting attempts to portray Mladić as a hero.

“Ratko Mladić’s guilt was absolutely proven, and there is no doubt about what kind of person he is,” Kolarić said. She argued that his image as a hero is built on “half-truths or falsification of history.” In her view, presenting the funeral as an expression of the entire Serbian public excludes those who oppose the event and may feel shame at the state’s decision to invest its resources in what she called a falsified narrative of the past.

Half-truths or falsification of history.

· Jovana KolarićShe used this phrase to explain how Mladić’s heroic image is being constructed.
About this summary

Originally published by N1 Serbia in Serbian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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