Funeral of convicted war criminal Mladic draws thousands, opens old wounds
Thousands attended the burial of convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić as Serbian officials and nationalist supporters drew condemnation for glorifying him.
- On Monday, Sept. 7, 2026, the body of Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic lay in state at the St. Luke Church in Belgrade as thousands of mourners gathered to honor the convicted war criminal who died last week.
- Mladic died at 84 on Aug. 27 while serving a life sentence for genocide, including orchestrating the 1995 massacre of more than 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica and the siege of Sarajevo during the Bosnian war.
- Despite international condemnation, the Serbian government sent a plane to bring Mladic's remains to Belgrade, with soldiers carrying the flag-draped coffin as Patriarch Porfirije, head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, prepared to lead the funeral with full military honors.
- European Union enlargement commissioner Marta Kos canceled a planned visit to protest the glorification, while President Aleksandar Vucic dismissed the criticism, accusing Kos of "lying" amid rising tensions.
- Vucic, who is not attending the funeral, has stepped up anti-Western rhetoric ahead of a high-stakes early parliamentary election expected next month as Serbia's European Union bid remains stalled due to democratic backsliding.
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Funeral of convicted war criminal Mladic draws thousands, opens old wounds
Crowds carrying Serbian flags and pictures of Mladic wearing a traditional Serbian military cap gathered outside the church in a Belgrade suburb where the head of the country’s Orthodox church, Serbian Patriarch Porfirije, presided over the service
The Serbian war criminal Ratko Mladic is buried with timpani and trumpets as if he were a war hero. This is like a complete denial of reality. A commentary by Leonie Hudelmaier.
Thousands of people came to Belgrade with Serbian flags and photographs of the former Serb commander, who died on 27 August in The Hague.
Thousands of people gathered in Belgrade on Monday for the funeral of former Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladić, who died last week while serving a life sentence for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Ratko Mladić's funeral included government guests and free bus transportation.
Tens of thousands of people accompanied in Belgrade the coffin of the war criminal, dismissed as national hero. More information: Die Ratko Mladić, Serbian general nicknamed 'Srebrenica butcher' and sentenced to life imprisonment for genocide
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