Survivors' groups and family members of war victims in Bosnia and Herzegovina have condemned plans to escort former Republika Srpska Army commander Ratko Mladic with high military and state honors.
The body of Mladic, sentenced to life imprisonment for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, returned to Belgrade on September 3 on a Serbian government plane. The coffin, draped in the Serbian flag, was received with military ceremony and then taken to the Military Medical Academy for an autopsy.
Mladic died on August 27 in The Hague, aged 84, while serving a life sentence. In 2017, he was found guilty by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia of genocide and other crimes committed during the Bosnian war. The verdict was upheld on appeal in 2021.
He was found responsible, among other things, for his role in the Srebrenica genocide, where more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were killed, as well as for crimes during the siege of Sarajevo. Despite his conviction by international justice, Mladic continues to be considered a hero by some Serbian nationalists.
Plans for Mladic's funeral have sparked strong reactions in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Survivors' groups have called the tributes to a man convicted of genocide an insult to the victims and their families, warning that glorifying him could deepen divisions and harm the reconciliation process in the region.
Strong reactions have also come from the European Union. Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos canceled a planned visit to Serbia, describing the glorification of Mladic as incompatible with European values. According to her, honoring a person convicted of genocide and war crimes runs counter to reconciliation efforts and the principles associated with the EU integration process.
Mladic's burial is scheduled for September 7 at the Topcider cemetery in Belgrade, while a memorial ceremony was held on September 5 at the Army House. Serbian authorities have not officially confirmed that it will be a state funeral, although the return of the body on a government plane and the military honors have caused strong international reactions.
The case has brought back into focus the debate on how Serbia is dealing with the past of the 1990s wars. While international justice has established Mladic's criminal responsibility for genocide and war crimes, the reactions to the way he is being prosecuted show that the interpretation of this past remains one of the most sensitive issues in relations between Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the European Union.
