Thousands gather in Serbia for Ratko Mladić’s funeral
In Serbia, in Belgrade, thousands of people gathered near the Church of St. Luke to bid farewell to former Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladić. He died last week while serving a life sentence for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. This was reported by Cyprus Mail, citing Reuters.
Farewell in Belgrade
People carrying Serbian flags and portraits of Mladić in a traditional Serbian military cap began arriving at the church in the morning, several hours before the planned burial. Free bus services were offered to those wishing to travel to the ceremony from Bosnia and most cities in Serbia.
Mladić’s coffin was placed in the church. Six men, mostly war veterans from Serbia and Bosnia, took turns standing beside it. Mladić’s wife, son and grandchildren received condolences. The funeral service was to be conducted by the patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church, after which Mladić was to be buried at the nearby cemetery next to his daughter, who died in 1994.
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Convictions for war crimes
The UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia found Mladić guilty of genocide for his role in the mass killing of about 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in 1995. Bosnian Serb forces then seized the enclave designated by the UN as an area under its protection.
He was also convicted over the 43-month siege of Sarajevo, during which about 10,000 people were killed. European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos last week postponed a visit to Serbia because of what she called the glorification of Mladić after his death, including the use of a government plane to transport him to Serbia. Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić rejected the claims without clarifying whether he would attend the funeral.
In Sarajevo, the farewell ceremony evoked painful memories of the war. Zdravka Gvozdjar, whose nine-year-old son was killed during the siege of the city by a shell fired by forces under Mladić’s command, said he should be remembered only as a butcher.
