Mladic burial puts Serbia’s wartime legacy into election politics
The burial of convicted war criminal Ratko Mladic with military honours has drawn EU criticism as Serbia moves towards an expected snap election.
Former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic has been buried at Topcider Cemetery in Belgrade with military honours, in a ceremony attended by several thousand people and officiated by Serbian Patriarch Porfirije.
Mladic died while serving a life sentence in The Hague after being convicted of genocide in Srebrenica and other war crimes. His forces massacred about 8,000 Bosniak civilians and prisoners at Srebrenica in July 1995.
The funeral was broadcast live by pro-government broadcaster Informer TV, which described it as a “magnificent farewell”. President Aleksandar Vucic did not attend, but defended the military honours as respect for the family’s wishes. Mladic was not given state honours.
The European Union criticised what it called the glorification of a convicted war criminal, saying such acts, genocide denial and historical revisionism have no place in the bloc or in EU candidate countries.
The burial comes as Serbia is expected to move towards a snap parliamentary election, with the student-led protest movement preparing to challenge Vucic’s ruling bloc. Analysts cited by Deutsche Welle said the funeral could help mobilise nationalist sentiment, although its electoral impact remains uncertain.
