Ratko Mladić to be buried in Belgrade without state or military honours — Euronews
In Belgrade, Serbia, former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladić will be buried on Monday without state or military honours. No current officials, including Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, the prime minister and the speaker of parliament, will attend the ceremony. Artillery salutes and a ceremonial military presence are also not planned, Euronews reports.
Mladić died last week while serving a life sentence for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the 1992–1995 war in Bosnia. On Thursday, his remains were transported from The Hague to Serbia by government aircraft. Serbian military personnel carried the coffin, wrapped in the national flag, to a vehicle escorted by police.
Burial in Belgrade
According to the family, the coffin will be displayed in a church near Košutnjak Cemetery on Monday morning and buried later the same day. Mladić will not be buried in the Alley of the Greats or the Alley of Distinguished Citizens, although such requests had been made.
A commemorative ceremony began on Saturday at the Serbian Army House in Belgrade. Serbian authorities said it was organised not by the state but by an association of retired generals; Belgrade officials were not present at the event. The family also said that Mladić would be buried next to his daughter, who died by suicide in the 1990s.
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Vučić said that tens of thousands of Mladić supporters could attend the funeral. According to him, Serbia's police and security service expect a significant number of participants, so ensuring security will be difficult. The president said he would not attend the funeral because of a planned official visit by Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
Reaction from the EU and human rights advocates
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia found Mladić guilty of genocide for organising the execution of more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys in Srebrenica in July 1995. He was also found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity during the siege of Sarajevo.
European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos cancelled a planned visit to Serbia and said that glorifying Mladić is incompatible with the values on which the path to the EU is based. Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Michael O'Flaherty called on the authorities of Serbia and the Bosnian Serb entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina to counter the glorification of convicted war criminals.
Following Mladić's death, memorial events and marches in his honour took place in Serbia. UEFA fined Belgrade's Crvena Zvezda €90,000 for several violations, including fans chanting in honour of Mladić, as well as racist and/or discriminatory behaviour.
