Milinkov: ‘Shameful and devastating’, the state must not organize a war criminal’s funeral

Smiljana Milinkov says she feels “quite ashamed” and believes the planned farewell for convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić is “very devastating for our society.” The professor at the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad was commenting on reports that Mladić would be buried with military honors.

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Quite ashamed and I think all of this is very devastating for our society.

Milinkov says Serbia’s citizens have the right to pay their respects to Mladić. But she argues that the state crosses a line if it stands behind the organization of the funeral. She also questions how much those offering their respects understand about the crimes and victims of the wars of the 1990s.

“Research shows that the citizens of Serbia know very little about everything that happened in the 1990s,” she says, including the crimes committed, the number of victims, and the extent of the suffering caused by the Serbian side. More troubling, in her view, is that many do not want to be informed. Confronting responsibility and the past may be painful and uncomfortable, she says, but it is essential if Serbian society is to move forward.

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Citizens have the right, but the state must not stand behind organizing the funeral of a war criminal.

Milinkov also says the European Union and the international community have reacted unusually strongly to Mladić’s funeral. She believes President Aleksandar Vučić is aware of that, pointing to his decision not to attend while hosting Uzbekistan’s president at a diplomatic meeting. She calls this “very hypocritical,” particularly toward his voters, because Vučić presents himself as someone able to move “mountains and valleys,” yet supposedly cannot reschedule one diplomatic meeting.

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Research shows that the citizens of Serbia know very little about everything that happened in the 1990s.

Asked what Vučić stands behind, given his earlier support for Mladić and his later acknowledgment of Serbia’s international obligations after Mladić’s arrest, Milinkov says he clearly stands behind the politics of the 1990s that led to war crimes and human suffering. At the same time, she says, he adjusts his message according to political interest, offering one narrative to domestic audiences and another to the international community. She compares the current reaction to earlier claims that the Hague tribunal was responsible for Slobodan Milošević’s death, saying parts of society need such narratives to avoid confronting the past and continue defending an imagined value system.

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Very hypocritical, primarily toward his voters.