Serbia Repatriates Convicted War Criminal Ratko Mladic

The body of Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb army commander convicted of genocide and war crimes, was flown from The Hague, Netherlands, to Belgrade, Serbia, on Thursday. Mladic died last week at age 85 while serving a life sentence for orchestrating the Srebrenica massacre and the siege of Sarajevo.

Upon arrival in Belgrade, Serbian soldiers received the casket with military honors and the national flag. Justice Minister Nenad Vujic accompanied the body, which was transferred to a military hospital for autopsy. While Vujic initially stated Mladic would receive the highest state honors, President Aleksandar Vucic later clarified that the decision regarding funeral honors rests with the family.

President Vucic noted that tens of thousands of admirers might attend the funeral, which pro-government media suggest will occur on Monday, creating a significant security challenge. Vucic also accused the UN tribunal of bias and uncivilized behavior for denying Mladic a humanitarian release before his death.

The repatriation has drawn sharp international criticism. EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos and the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals condemned the glorification of convicted war criminals, warning that such actions contradict European values and could jeopardize Serbia's EU membership bid. Domestically, the Humanitarian Law Center argued that granting state honors would violate Serbian law, as Mladic lost his military rank upon his 2017 conviction.