„Elements of official support and the participation of some high-ranking Serbian officials in the funeral cause great regret,“ said the European Union (EU) leaders in a statement posted on social media.
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According to them, the images from the funeral were shocking.
According to the EU leaders, this shows “an inability to confront a dark chapter of Europe’s recent history and contradicts the values on which Serbia’s path to the European Union is based.”
The EU has not yet announced what consequences there may be for Serbia’s efforts to join the 27-member bloc.
EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos has already canceled a planned visit to Belgrade, and U. von der Leyen is unlikely to stop in Serbia during the upcoming trip to the Balkans.
Thousands of people gathered in Belgrade on Monday for the funeral of R. Mladić, convicted of genocide during the 1990s war in Bosnia.
R. Mladić died at the end of August, aged 84, serving a life sentence in The Hague for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity committed during the war – for this reputation, the international press dubbed him the Bosnian butcher.
Serbian Justice Minister Nenad Vujičić initially announced “military and state honors” for R. Mladić, causing international outrage. Later, President Aleksandar Vučić softened this decision.
A. Vučić rejected accusations of glorifying the former general and said the funeral would meet the family’s wishes.
R. Mladić’s son Darko, who officially organized the funeral, stood by the coffin early Monday as mourners poured into the church. Many of those present kissed the coffin.
The service took place in the small St. Luke’s church, not the large St. Sava sanctuary where state funerals are usually held, but several Serbian ministers attended, as well as the Russian ambassador to the country and former Bosnian Serb Republic president Milorad Dodik.
A. Vučić earlier said the state would ensure the funeral passed safely but added that he himself would not attend due to prior commitments.
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Despite the guilty verdict, many Serbian nationalists continue to regard R. Mladić as a hero and defender, especially in the Serb Republic, where his death was marked by vigils and gatherings.
Last week, R. Mladić’s coffin, brought by government plane, was draped with national flags and carried by soldiers, then transported in a cortege greeted on overpasses by groups of young people with posters.
Such a reception in the country sparked condemnation from regional and international leaders, including the EU.
About 100,000 people died during the 1992–1995 war, and 2.2 million were forced to leave their homes.
R. Mladić was the military face of the Bosnian Serb leadership, along with former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milošević and Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić.
The United Nations (UN) war crimes tribunal convicted him of genocide for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, when Bosnian Serb forces killed about 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in a UN-protected zone.
It was the worst bloodshed in Europe since World War II.
R. Mladić was also convicted of persecution and forced expulsion of Bosnian Muslims and Croats, terrorizing civilians during the siege of Sarajevo, and taking UN peacekeepers hostage during NATO airstrikes in 1995.
He was arrested in 2011, 16 years after charges were first brought against him, and after a nine-year trial was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2021.
