The funeral of convicted genocide warlord Ratko Mladic is expected to take place with full state honors in Serbia, with the burial site to be determined by his family. His death has sparked strong and conflicting reactions in the region and internationally, reopening the debate over responsibility and memory of crimes committed during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Serbia has announced that Bosnian genocide warlord Ratko Mladic, who died on Thursday, will be buried with full state honors.
Serbian Minister of Justice, Nenad Vujic, confirmed this announcement on Banja Luka's ATV television.
"General Mladic is a general and the protocols are known. His role is also known, but what belongs to General Mladic will certainly be respected. I emphasize that Republika Srpska is not the one who decides here, the family will also decide where he will be buried, because this is a matter for his family," Vučić said.
Serbian media have reported that Mladic's son has requested that he be buried in Belgrade, next to the grave of his daughter, who committed suicide in 1994.
And Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has expressed his support if the family requests such a thing. He has pledged to give the criminal a dignified burial.
"They did not allow him to die in Serbia, to die where he wanted. This was an uncivilized, unprecedented and unjustifiable act. What I can guarantee is that, if the family wants him to be buried on the territory of Serbia, we will help and enable this to be done in a dignified manner," Vučić said.
He has complained to the Hague Tribunal, saying that it did not send an official notification of Mladic's death.
"We now saw that The Hague wanted Mladic to die behind bars, not in a hospital. In particular, they did not want to allow the general to die in Serbia, where he wanted to," Vučić told journalists in Osceć.
He called this "uncivilized, unprecedented and unjustifiable behavior."
As Vučić said, teams from Serbia have been sent to The Hague to assist with logistical and transportation issues.
The death of criminal Ratko Mladic has prompted various reactions in the region and in the international arena.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has reiterated solidarity with the victims of genocide and their families, stressing the importance of combating the denial of crimes and the glorification of war criminals.
"He strongly condemns any denial of the Srebrenica genocide as a historical event, and any action that glorifies those convicted of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide by international courts," Guterres' office said.
One of the strongest reactions came from Emir Suljagić, director of the Srebrenica Memorial Center. He said that Mladić's death does not change anything from what happened during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
"Ratko Mladic is dead and there is no point in saying more. This fact does not change anything either. It does not bring back the dead. It does not whiten the mass graves. It does not turn the criminal into a historical figure. Now the most difficult part of the job remains: not letting the truth, responsibility and memory die with him. Mladic's death is another moment where we must decide what we will remember and, more importantly, what we will not allow to be forgotten," he said.
Even Kada Hotić, vice president of the "Mothers of Srebrenica" Movement, who lost her husband and son during the 1995 massacre, said that justice was served when Mladić was sentenced to life imprisonment.
On the other hand, the reactions from some Serbian political figures have been completely opposite.
Milorad Dodik, the former president of Republika Srpska, has described Mladic's death as a "murder", claiming that his health condition had been serious and presenting him as a commander who had fought to protect Serbs.
"It is murder. He was respected by the Serbs. As a commander he stood to protect the Serbs," Dodik said.
The leader of the Serbian Radical Party, criminal Vojislav Seselj, reacted similarly, claiming that Mladic had been "murdered", continuing to glorify him even after his death.
"Mladic fought against those evil people for a long time; they had been waiting for his death for 2-3 years, but he didn't give up... They killed him," Seselj said.
The criminal Mladic, originally from Kalinovic, was finally convicted in June 2021 by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague for genocide in Srebrenica, persecution of the civilian population, extermination and murder, deportation and inhumane acts, terrorization and unlawful attacks on Sarajevo, as well as taking UN soldiers hostage.
Mladic was responsible for the deaths of more than 8 men and boys in Srebrenica in 1995.
In world public opinion, due to his crimes, he also became known as the "Butcher of Bosnia".