Vučić will not attend Mladić’s funeral: “I spoke with the family”

Aleksandar Vučić will not attend Ratko Mladić’s funeral in Belgrade on Monday, saying a previously arranged state visit will keep him away. “I spoke with the Mladić family, that is their choice, what they will do and how they will do it. I have an official visit all day Monday, scheduled four months ago,” the Serbian president told reporters.

Vučić is expected to spend the day hosting the president of Uzbekistan. He said he had also spoken with Mladić’s family about the funeral arrangements, but would not attend the farewell ceremony because of his official duties.

Mladić died last week in the detention facility of the Hague tribunal, where he was serving a life sentence for war crimes committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including the 1995 genocide in Srebrenica. The Serbian government transported his body to Belgrade by aircraft on Thursday.

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I spoke with the Mladić family, that is their choice, what they will do and how they will do it. I have an official visit all day Monday, scheduled four months ago.

The burial will take place in a family grave at Topčider Cemetery. His son Darko said the coffin would be displayed at a local church before the funeral, until noon, with the burial planned for around 2 p.m. A memorial ceremony is scheduled for noon on Saturday at the Army House.

Mladić’s wife, Bosiljka, said his final wish was to rest beside their daughter Ana. “I am grateful to everyone who helped fulfill his final wish. My heart is more at peace. Ratko’s final wish will be fulfilled, to rest beside our child,” she told Večernje novosti while waiting for her husband’s body to arrive from The Hague. Ana died in 1994, according to official records, by suicide using her father’s pistol. She was 23.

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I am grateful to everyone who helped fulfill his final wish. My heart is more at peace. Ratko’s final wish will be fulfilled, to rest beside our child.