The body of Ratko Mladić, the Bosnian-Serb wartime general who died while serving a life sentence for genocide and war crimes, lay in state on Monday as thousands of mourners gathered to pay their respects during his funeral in Belgrade. The public honors proceeded despite widespread international condemnation and Mladić’s conviction for orchestrating the bloodiest atrocities on European soil since World War II.
Crowds filed into a small chapel in the Serbian capital early Monday morning to view the casket, which was draped with his officer’s cap and ceremonial sword, flanked by uniformed guards. The display openly defied warnings from the European Union against state-sanctioned veneration of convicted war criminals. Serbia is an official candidate for EU membership, and the open celebration of Mladić’s legacy is expected to trigger sharp diplomatic fallout and complicate its accession prospects.
Serbian state-affiliated media reported that Mladić was laid to rest with full military honors, with the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church presiding over the funeral rites. “Mladić was a man who gave his entire life for the Serbian people. I am proud to see people arriving this morning to pay him special tribute,” one mourner told local reporters.
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Mladić died on August 27 at the age of 84 in The Hague, Netherlands, where he was serving a life sentence handed down by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). He was convicted in 2017 of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity committed by his forces during the 1992–1995 Bosnian War.
His convictions centered on masterminding the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, in which over 8,000 Muslim men and boys were systematically slaughtered after Serb forces overran a designated UN “safe zone.” Mladić was also convicted for orchestrating the brutal, years-long Siege of Sarajevo, running notorious detention camps, and driving the mass ethnic cleansing of Bosniaks and Croats following the collapse of Yugoslavia.