
Serbian Justice Minister Nenad Vujic has stated that former Bosnian Serb military leader and war criminal Ratko Mladic will be treated with full military and state honors by the Serbian state.
Mladic died while serving a life sentence in The Hague prison. Minister Vujic confirmed that Serbian authorities are awaiting instructions from the UN and the international tribunal to retrieve his body.
"It is certain that General Mladic will receive all the military and state honors that are due to him, as far as the state is concerned. We are ready to leave for The Hague as soon as we learn what the next steps are," Vujic said.
Known by the international media as the “Butcher of Bosnia,” Mladic was convicted by the Hague Tribunal of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. He was found guilty of his direct role in the Srebrenica massacre, which is considered the worst act of bloodshed in Europe since the end of World War II.
Mladic, who had suffered several strokes in recent months, served as the military arm of the Serbian government during the breakup of Yugoslavia, alongside former President Slobodan Milosevic and Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic. The 1992-1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina left an estimated 100,000 dead and more than 2.2 million displaced.