Thousands attend Ratko Mladic’s funeral in Belgrade

Thousands gathered in Belgrade to bury Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb wartime military commander, in a ceremony marked by Serbian flags, military honors and symbols from the wars of the 1990s.

Mladic’s coffin traveled from St Luke Church to Topcider cemetery in a red civilian van. A crowd lined the road for more than four kilometers, while the cemetery filled with mourners and supporters. An honor guard in full Serbian Defense Forces uniform fired shots into the air before the coffin was placed in the Mladic family tomb.

The grave also holds Mladic’s daughter Ana, who was buried there in 1994. His son, Darko Mladic, spoke at the graveside and thanked those who had come to pay their respects.

The funeral drew a number of Serbian and Republika Srpska officials. Those attending included Danilo Vucic, the son of President Aleksandar Vucic, Russian Ambassador Alexander Bocan Harchenko, Defense Minister Bratislav Gasic, Justice Minister Nenad Vujic, Culture Minister Nikola Selakovic, Public Investments Minister Darko Glisic, ruling Serbian Progressive Party lawmakers and former Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik.

Mladic died at 84 in the hospital of the Hague Tribunal’s detention unit in Scheveningen. He had been serving a life sentence after convictions for war crimes, crimes against humanity and the Srebrenica genocide.

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Thank you for paying respect to my father.