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🇪🇸 Spain /Conflict & Security

War criminal Ratko Mladić buried with honors in Belgrade

From El País · () Spanish

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

At a glance

News Named sources Outcome reported
  • Thousands attended the Belgrade funeral of former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladić, who died while serving a life sentence for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
  • Serbia's president did not attend, although government ministers and other officials did, while EU officials criticized what they called Mladić's glorification.
  • Mladić was buried beside his daughter with military honors despite objections from the European Union and Bosnian war victims' associations.

Thousands of people gathered in Belgrade to pay tribute to Ratko Mladić, the former Bosnian Serb commander who died on August 27 while serving a life sentence in The Hague for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

President Aleksandar Vučić did not attend the funeral, but several members of his government did. Serbia's justice, defence and culture ministers were among those present, along with Republika Srpska President Siniša Karan, Serbian member of Bosnia and Herzegovina's tripartite presidency Željka Cvijanović, Russia's ambassador to Serbia and Vučić's son, Danilo.

The ceremony followed the postponement of a visit to Serbia by EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos. She criticized what she called the "glorification" of Mladić, including the use of a government aircraft to transport his body from the Netherlands. Mladić was arrested in Serbia in 2011 and convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in 2017. His life sentence was upheld on appeal in 2021.

The tribunal found him responsible for the Srebrenica genocide, in which about 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were killed in 1995, and for a campaign of terror against Sarajevo during the city's 43-month siege, when about 10,000 people died. His coffin was covered with the Serbian flag and taken to St Luke's Church in Belgrade, where the funeral was led by Serbian Orthodox Patriarch Porfirije.

People arrived from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina on free buses, carrying Serbian flags and photographs of Mladić. Six men, mostly Serbian and Bosnian Serb war veterans, took turns standing guard beside the coffin. Mladić was later buried next to his daughter, who died in 1994, in a ceremony that included military honors despite criticism from the EU and associations representing victims of the Bosnian war.

Ratko Mladić was convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The return of his remains to Belgrade reminds Europe of the darkest pages in our recent history. The glorification surrounding his death is incompatible with the values on which the EU path is…

· Marta KosKos criticized the treatment of Mladić's remains and the public response to his death.
About this summary

Originally published by El País in Spanish. 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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