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🇩🇪 Germany /Elections & Politics

Serbia: von der Leyen ‘Shocked’ by Ceremonial Burial of Ratko Mladić

From Die Zeit · () German

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

At a glance

Newswire From a news agency Ongoing story
  • European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen condemned the ceremonial burial in Belgrade of Ratko Mladić, the convicted Bosnian Serb war criminal who died while serving a life sentence in The Hague.
  • She criticized the presence of Serbian officials and said official support for the funeral contradicted the values underpinning Serbia’s path toward EU membership.
  • Mladić was convicted of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity linked to the 1990s war in Bosnia, including the Srebrenica genocide.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she was shocked by the images from Ratko Mladić’s funeral in Belgrade and condemned the ceremonial treatment given to the convicted war criminal.

The images from Ratko Mladić’s funeral yesterday in Belgrade were shocking.

· Ursula von der LeyenThe European Commission president condemned the ceremonial funeral in a post on X.

“Ratko Mladić was responsible for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity,” von der Leyen wrote on X. She noted that he died while serving a life sentence for the Srebrenica genocide and other crimes at The Hague.

He was responsible for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. He died while serving a life sentence for the genocide in Srebrenica and other crimes.

· Ursula von der LeyenVon der Leyen recalled Mladić’s convictions and sentence.

Von der Leyen specifically criticized the presence of Serbian officials at the funeral ceremony. She said official support for Mladić’s burial and the participation of senior officials were “deeply regrettable.”

deeply regrettable

· Ursula von der LeyenShe used the phrase to criticize official Serbian support and the presence of senior officials.

The European Commission president said these “elements of support” showed a failure to confront a dark chapter in recent European history. She added that they contradicted the values underpinning Serbia’s path toward the European Union.

elements of support

· Ursula von der LeyenShe said official backing for the funeral conflicted with the values of Serbia’s EU path.
About this summary

Originally published by Die Zeit in German. 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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