“You are our hero”: war criminal Mladić is buried in Belgrade

Mladić was charged genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity sentenced to life imprisonment during the Bosnian War. His guilty verdict was confirmed in the final instance in 2021.

President Vučić does not attend funeral

There were a striking number of men among the mourners, some of whom were probably members of the Bosnian Serb troops in the 1990s. Mladić, whom they continue to regard as a hero, was their military chief. Quite a few wore the image of the war criminal on their black T-shirts.

Whether the farewell service shortly after noon from the Serbian Orthodox Patriarch Porphyry It was not yet known in the early hours of the morning that the event would be celebrated. president Aleksandar Vucic will not attend the funeral at the smaller Belgrade cemetery in the Topcider district. The reason for this is a visit by the Uzbek president that was planned months ago Shavkat Mirziyoyevsaid the Serbian President.

The Minister of Justice is expected to attend the funeral Nenad Vujić to be present. Vujić was formerly a member of the ultranationalist party of Vojislav Seseljwho was also convicted of war crimes. Shortly after Mladić’s death, Vujić announced that he would be buried with “military and state honors”.

Mladić’s name is inextricably linked to the Srebrenica massacre in July 1995. Bosnian Serb troops under his command stormed the UN protection zone and murdered around 8,000 Muslim men and boys.

Serbian youth movement against the glorification of Mladić

According to its own information, the Belgrade Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR) had more than 1,000 people nationwide 250 graffiti and images by Mladićmost of them in Belgrade.

However, an opinion poll conducted by the same organization three years ago showed that the majority of young people in Serbia did not see Mladić as a hero. “The efforts of the authorities in Serbia to glorify Mladić as a hero are aimed at imposing war criminals as model people on the younger generation,” the organization wrote on its website.

“We are given Ratko Mladić and false heroes to numb our empty stomachs,” said the human rights activist on Sunday Aida Corovic to the Serbian news channel N1. The Serbian government is using Mladić to further stir up nationalist sentiment in society. This will bring good election results, said Ćorović.

EU: Glorification of war criminals contradicts European values

“Ratko Mladić was a convicted war criminal who committed war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. He died while serving a life sentence for crimes against humanity and genocide in Srebrenica,” a spokesman for the European External Action Service (EEAS) said in Brussels on Monday. Any glorification of war criminals and denial of genocide would contradict the most fundamental European values ​​and have no place in the EU or in EU candidate countries.

Serbia had this last worst report card among all EU candidate countries receive. According to the EU Commission’s current progress report, there are problems with media freedom and freedom of expression, the rule of law and the Kosovo conflict. Serbia has been an official candidate for EU membership since 2012, and negotiations have been ongoing since January 2014. “Reconciliation and good neighborly relations in the Western Balkans remain central to building a common future,” the spokesman emphasized, according to the broadcast.

“Mladić is not a hero”

“Our position on this issue is very clear: there is no place for the glorification of war criminals, those who deny genocide or those who act contrary to the most fundamental European values,” said the EU Commission’s chief spokeswoman in Brussels on Monday. In addition, it was not a state funeral, she emphasized. Whether Commission President Ursula von der Leyen or Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos would travel to Belgrade before the publication of this year’s progress reports planned for November, the spokeswoman replied with “we’ll see”.

SPÖ-EU delegation leader Andreas Schieder comments: “Ratko Mladić is not a hero. Ratko Mladić is a convicted war criminal and genocide. His name will forever be associated with the siege of Sarajevo and the Srebrenica genocide. This makes it all the more shameful that the Serbian leadership is now accompanying his death with state honors. Serbia is a candidate for EU membership. Anyone who wants to become part of our European Union must be prepared to face their own past and clearly recognize crimes as such “The trenches in the Balkans are deep enough. Today they are being dug a little deeper, even though exactly the opposite is necessary.”