Thousands Attend Belgrade Funeral for Convicted Bosnian War Criminal Ratko Mladić
Thousands of mourners converged in Belgrade for the funeral of Ratko Mladić, the former Bosnian Serb military commander convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity. Mladić, known as the 'Butcher of Bosnia', was jailed for his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre and the siege of Sarajevo during the 1990s Bosnian War.
His interment follows his death at the age of 80 while serving a life sentence. The gathering occurred despite the European Union issuing stern warnings to Serbia against the glorification of a convicted war criminal. Critics observe that such demonstrations in Serbia illustrate a persistent denial of wartime atrocities and a continued embrace of nationalist narratives that obstruct genuine reconciliation within the region.
Mladić’s conviction by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague in 2017, which was upheld on appeal in 2021, encompassed charges for the murder of over 8,000 Bosniak men and boys in Srebrenica and the terrorisation of Sarajevo's civilian population.
