Remains of Ratko Mladić Expected to Arrive in Serbia Today

Ratko Mladić’s remains were expected to arrive in Serbia late in the afternoon, according to Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, as preparations began for a funeral expected to draw tens of thousands of people.

“According to the information I received, the body has been collected and should arrive in Serbia in the late afternoon,” Vučić said, according to Serbia’s Tanjug news agency. He added that Mladić’s son, Darko, would inform the public “in the coming hours and days” about the family’s wishes for the funeral.

Vučić said the state would offer logistical support and help maintain public order, peace and security. Security services and the Interior Ministry expect attendance in the tens of thousands, he said, making the security operation particularly demanding. Funeral details have not yet been released.

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According to the information I received, the body has been collected and should arrive in Serbia in the late afternoon.

Justice Minister Nenad Vujić had said after Mladić’s death that Serbia might bury him with the highest state honors, but Vučić denied that. Mladić’s reported wish was to be buried beside his daughter Ana in Belgrade.

Mladić died in a Hague prison while serving a life sentence for war crimes and genocide during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was convicted over the siege of Sarajevo, in which more than 12,000 civilians died, and the 1995 Srebrenica genocide, in which Bosnian Serb forces killed more than 8,000 Bosniaks. His death produced sharply different reactions in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Victims’ representatives and Bosniak politicians warned against glorifying his crimes, while leading politicians in Republika Srpska bid farewell to him as a freedom fighter.

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in the coming hours and days