State honors for Ratko Mladić despite the law and warnings from Europe: “A political and ethical collapse”

Serbia’s handling of Ratko Mladić’s funeral has opened a sharp dispute over whether a convicted war criminal should receive state honors. Mladić’s body arrived in Serbia on a government aircraft, accompanied by his family and Justice Minister Nenad Vujić. Soldiers carried the coffin, draped in the Serbian flag, to the Military Medical Academy for an autopsy.

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I would like the funeral to pass peacefully and with dignity and not become an occasion for clashes and arguments, and in that sense I call on everyone to refrain from any provocations or attempts to prevent the event.

Mladić, the convicted commander of the Army of Republika Srpska, is scheduled to be buried at Belgrade’s Topčider Cemetery on Monday. The state has said he will receive any honors his family requests. That position has drawn criticism because Serbia’s Military Law provides for the removal of ranks and honors from people sentenced to more than one year in prison.

Mladić’s son, Darko Mladić, called for a peaceful and dignified funeral and urged people to avoid provocations. The family, legal team and medical team, appearing with the justice minister, said Mladić had been killed by inadequate treatment and that requests to transfer him to Serbia for medical care had been rejected in The Hague.

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When we speak about the family’s right to bury its member with dignity, respect and peace, that is something we cannot debate at this moment. We can leave the legal questions for a time when we can debate them.

The Humanitarian Law Center said no one questioned the family’s right to a dignified burial. But Jovana Kolarić said the state’s intervention, logistical support and public presence meant the event could not be treated as a private family act. She also criticized the justice minister for attending a conference where war crimes and genocide were denied.

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This kind of interference, intervention, support and logistical organization provided by the state of Serbia absolutely leaves no room for us to say that this is some private family act.

Kolarić described the state’s conduct as “a political and ethical collapse” and said it showed a failure to respect victims and their families. The European Union is watching who from the Serbian authorities attends or pays respects. President Aleksandar Vučić said he would not attend because he had a previously scheduled official visit from Uzbekistan’s president. Brussels will consider whether a warning is sufficient for Serbia depending on the authorities’ conduct.

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It is a kind of political and ethical collapse and an abandonment of any respect for basic humanity and consideration for the dignity of victims and their families.