Serbia: Ministers attend commemoration for convicted war criminal Mladić

About 300 people gathered in Belgrade on Saturday to commemorate Ratko Mladić, the former Bosnian Serb army commander convicted of genocide and other war crimes. Senior officials attended, including Serbian Justice Minister Nenad Vujic and Republika Srpska President Sinisa Karan.

Family members and dozens of former military personnel were also present. Mladić is due to be buried in Belgrade on Monday with military and state honors, a ceremony expected to draw thousands.

Mladić died on Aug. 27 in a hospital in The Hague, where he had been serving a life sentence imposed by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. The tribunal convicted him of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war. He had suffered health problems for years and recently experienced several strokes.

His name remains inseparable from the Srebrenica massacre in July 1995. Bosnian Serb forces under his command overran the U.N. safe area and killed about 8,000 Muslim men and boys. Their bodies were buried in mass graves, and many were later moved in attempts to conceal the crimes. The massacre is regarded as one of Europe’s worst war crimes since World War II.

Serbian authorities arrested Mladić in 2011 after nearly 16 years on the run and transferred him to The Hague. His life sentence was issued in 2017 and confirmed on appeal in 2021. EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos canceled a planned visit to Serbia because of what she called the glorification of Mladić. Serbia has been an official EU candidate since 2012.