The body of Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb commander convicted of war crimes and known as the “Butcher of Srebrenica,” who died while serving a life sentence in The Hague, was displayed today in the funeral chamber, while Serbia defies European Union warnings against public celebrations honoring the man found guilty of the first genocide in Europe since World War II.
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Thousands of people arrived early in the morning at the small Serbian Orthodox Church of Saint Luke in Belgrade to pay tribute to Mladic, still considered a hero by many Serbs. His officer’s cap and saber were placed on the coffin, flanked by men in military uniform. Pro-government Serbian media reported that Mladic will receive full military honors and that the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Porfirije, will conduct the funeral rite.
Mladic died at age 84 on August 27 in The Hague, Netherlands, while serving a life sentence for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity committed by his troops during the Bosnian war of 1992-95. Although funeral preparations were formally handled by Mladic’s family, the Serbian government sent a plane last week to bring the body back to Belgrade, and soldiers carried the coffin wrapped in the national flag.
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On Saturday, a military commemorative ceremony was held at an official Serbian army facility. Serbia is a candidate country for European Union membership and has been heavily criticized for the honors given to Mladic after his death. Marta Kos, European Commissioner for Enlargement, canceled a planned visit to Serbia in protest, stating that “the glorification surrounding his death is incompatible with the values on which the path to the EU is based.” Numerous other European political figures have expressed criticism, as have regional leaders and relatives of Mladic’s victims in the Bosnian war.
The conflict caused over 100,000 deaths and left more than a million people homeless before ending in 1995 with a peace agreement mediated by the United States. The Serbian populist president Aleksandar Vucic, a former ultranationalist who supported Serbia’s expansionist policies during the war, rejected the EU’s criticism, accusing Kos of “lying.” Vucic, who will not attend the funeral, has intensified his anti-Western rhetoric ahead of the early parliamentary elections scheduled for next month, considered highly important.
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