Mladic funeral deepens Serbia’s rift over war memory and Europe
Ratko Mladic's burial in Belgrade has renewed conflict over Serbia's wartime memory, official honors and its path toward European Union membership.
Reaction as body of convicted war criminal Ratko Mladic flown to Serbia for funeral
Mladic Memorial: Vujic and Karan Attend
Ratko Mladic to Be Buried Monday at Topcider Cemetery
Ratko Mladic’s Body Flown to Belgrade, Met by Serbian Officials
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A burial becomes a regional reckoning
Ratko Mladic was buried at Topcider Cemetery in Belgrade on Monday, turning the funeral of the former Bosnian Serb military commander into a fresh confrontation over how Serbia remembers the 1992-95 Bosnian war.balkaninsight He died on August 27 in a United Nations prison hospital in The Hague while serving a life sentence for genocide and crimes against humanity.rferl
The ceremony followed days of public mourning by supporters. Residents gathered along the route after his coffin arrived in Serbia, while some held banners reading “Thank you, General” and “Heroes never die.”dw Belgrade residents interviewed before the funeral expressed sorrow at his death, illustrating the reverence he still commands among part of the Serbian public.yahoo
Honors sharpen a dispute over official memory
Mladic’s remains arrived from the Netherlands on a Serbian government plane, and six soldiers carried his flag-draped coffin after it landed in Belgrade.aljazeera That state involvement drew scrutiny because a UN tribunal convicted him over the Srebrenica genocide, the siege of Sarajevo and other crimes committed by Bosnian Serb forces.dw +1
The scale and status of the funeral had been contested before the burial. Justice Minister Nenad Vujic initially said Mladic would receive the highest state honors, while President Aleksandar Vucic later said the arrangements would be left to the family.dw Serbian officials also prepared for tens of thousands of mourners and pledged logistical and security support.aljazeera +1
For victims’ advocates, the official reception risked elevating a convicted commander over those harmed by his forces. More than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were killed at Srebrenica in July 1995, and Mladic’s troops also subjected Sarajevo to years of shelling and sniper fire.rferl Srebrenica survivor Emir Suljagic said after Mladic’s death that the central task was preventing truth, responsibility and memory from dying with him.cnn
Serbia’s European ambitions face another test
The fallout has moved beyond symbolic arguments. European Union Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos canceled a planned September 9-10 visit to Serbia, saying the glorification surrounding Mladic’s death was incompatible with the values underpinning the country’s path toward EU membership.rferl
Serbia remains a formal candidate for membership, but its treatment of the wartime past has long complicated relations with Brussels and neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina. The funeral exposes the political bind facing Belgrade: nationalist constituencies continue to cast Mladic as a defender of Serbs, while international institutions and survivors insist that reconciliation must begin with the judgments against him. Monday’s burial closes his life story, but not the argument over whether Serbia’s institutions are honoring a man or denying the crimes for which he was convicted.