Body of convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić brought to Belgrade
On September 3, a Serbian government plane brought the body of former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladić from The Hague to Belgrade. He died last week at the age of 84 at the UN detention centre in The Hague, where he was serving a life sentence for war crimes.
As Cyprus Mail reports, the plane landed at Belgrade airport shortly before 18:00 local time. On board, along with the coffin draped in the Serbian flag, were Mladić's son and granddaughter, as well as Serbian Justice Minister Nenad Vujić.
Serbian military personnel carried the coffin into a red van. According to Serbian media, it was to be taken to a military hospital, where an autopsy will be conducted over the weekend.
Funeral and security
Serbian media reported that a farewell ceremony is planned for Saturday at an army hall in central Belgrade. According to these reports, the funeral is to take place on Monday at a church in a suburb of the capital, after which Mladić will be buried in a cemetery next to his daughter.
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Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said he expects tens of thousands of people at the funeral and described ensuring security as a difficult task. A Serbian government official initially said Mladić would receive a state funeral, but following criticism from European leaders, the government did not confirm such a format.
Tribunal verdict
Mladić was found guilty of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during the 1992–1995 war in Bosnia. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia found him guilty, in particular, of genocide for his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, when Bosnian Serbs, after capturing the UN-declared enclave, killed about 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys.
He was also found guilty in the case concerning the 43-month siege of Sarajevo, during which about 10,000 people were killed. The UN mechanism in The Hague handling the residual cases of the tribunal for the former Yugoslavia is investigating the circumstances of Mladić's death. The source notes that this procedure is standard when a detainee dies at the Hague detention centre.
