Senior Serbian politicians and military figures have attended a memorial ceremony for the recently deceased war criminal Ratko Mladić, drawing renewed criticism over his public commemoration and prompting the European Union to distance itself from Serbia.
The ceremony in Belgrade was organised by retired and serving generals and was attended by around 300 people, according to the news agency AFP. Among those present were Serbian Justice Minister Nenad Vujić and several representatives of the Bosnian Serb entity Republika Srpska, including its president, Sinisa Karan.
The event comes ahead of Mladić’s planned burial in Belgrade on Monday, which is expected to take place with military and state honours. Thousands of people are expected to attend the funeral, further highlighting the enduring sensitivity surrounding the former Bosnian Serb army commander’s legacy.
Mladić died on Thursday at a hospital in The Hague at the age of 84. He had spent years in detention after being convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and was serving a life sentence for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. He had suffered from long-term health problems and had experienced several strokes in recent years.
His name remains closely associated with the Srebrenica massacre of July 1995. Bosnian Serb forces under his command stormed the United Nations-protected zone and killed around 8,000 Muslim men and boys. The massacre is regarded as one of the worst war crimes in Europe since the end of the Second World War.
Mladić remained at large for almost 16 years before he was arrested in Serbia in 2011 and transferred to The Hague. In 2017, he was sentenced to life imprisonment, and in 2021 the conviction was upheld on final appeal.
His death and the manner in which he is being commemorated have now become an issue in Serbia’s relations with the European Union. EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos cancelled a visit to Serbia planned for the following week, citing the “glorification” of Mladić in the country.
The dispute comes as Serbia continues its long-standing pursuit of EU membership. The country has held official EU candidate status since 2012, making its handling of Mladić’s legacy an increasingly sensitive issue in relations with the bloc.
The participation of senior Serbian officials in a ceremony honouring Mladić, together with plans for a funeral involving military and state honours, has brought renewed international attention to how the country publicly remembers one of the most controversial figures of the Bosnian war.
For the European Union, the episode has already carried a direct diplomatic consequence, with Kos’s decision to cancel her visit signalling growing concern over the public commemoration of a man convicted of some of the gravest international crimes committed during the conflict.
