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How the funeral for Ratko Mladic is dividing Serbia

2026-09-05 17:05:13Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA SANJA KLJAJIC
How the funeral for Ratko Mladic is dividing Serbia
Arrival of Ratko Mladic's body in Belgrade

While the Serbian government has left the decision on organizing Ratko Mladic's funeral to the family, international pressure on Serbia is growing. How do Serbs view this issue?

The body of former Bosnian Serb Army commander Ratko Mladic, who died last week in The Hague, where he was serving a life sentence for genocide and other war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina, has been returned to Serbia.

Draped in the Serbian flag, Mladic's coffin was transported by members of the Serbian Armed Forces from the plane to a vehicle that took his body to the Military Medical Academy for an autopsy.

Several groups of citizens gathered along the road from the airport to the hospital. Standing on overpasses, they greeted the motorcade carrying Mladic's body, holding banners with the inscriptions "Thank you, General" and "Heroes never die."

Pro-government tabloids reported minute by minute on the event, referring to Mladic as a "Serbian general" and claiming that he had been "killed in The Hague."

A funeral with full state honors?

Ratko Mladic was sentenced in 2017 to life imprisonment by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague for the genocide in Srebrenica, where more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed, for the years-long siege of Sarajevo during the Bosnian War (1992-1995), as well as for other war crimes, including the establishment of detention camps for non-Serb civilians and prisoners of war.

Belgrade media reports that Mladic will be buried on Monday (07.09.2026) in Belgrade. Justice Minister Nenad Vujic had previously announced that the funeral would be held with the highest state honors.

However, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said the decision would be left to the family.

Security agencies estimate that tens of thousands of people could attend the funeral.

"We will be there to provide any kind of logistical and transportation support, as well as to maintain public order and safety," the president said, adding: "It is very difficult to ensure and guarantee everyone's safety."

The glorification that has continued for decades

For Jasmina Lazovic, executive director of the Humanitarian Law Center in Belgrade, who has been dealing with justice and dealing with the past for decades, none of this comes as a surprise.

How the funeral for Ratko Mladic is dividing Serbia
The glorification of Ratko Mladic

She highlights the long-standing glorification of Ratko Mladic in Serbia and his legacy. "There is no small town in Serbia without at least one mural praising Ratko Mladic. The narrative that he was unjustly convicted has been around for years," she told DW. "Now the narrative that he was murdered has also emerged, although he died at the age of 85 after suffering several strokes."

According to Lazovic, these narratives are consistent with the state leadership's portrayal of Serbia as a country that has only waged defensive wars and do not leave sufficient space for discussing the consequences of these wars and the victims they left behind, neither in the media nor in the educational system and institutions.

"And there are hundreds of thousands of victims in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo. Above all, these were crimes committed against civilians, crimes that left the countries of the region, especially Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a completely transformed ethnic structure," she said.

Lazovic adds that the list of victims also includes survivors of rape and torture, as well as those who were forcibly expelled. "The list is long and our knowledge is limited," she added.

A general without a rank

The announcement that Mladic could be buried with the highest state honors caused immediate reactions from the international community. "Glorification of war criminals is contrary to European values. There is no place for this either in EU member states or in candidate countries. I hope that the government in Belgrade is clear about this," said European Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos.

Aleksandar Vučić responded by accusing the West and the Hague Tribunal of blaming only Serbs for war crimes and failing to bring justice to Serb victims. However, he has officially left the decision on whether the late general will receive state honors to Mladić's family.

Jasmina Lazovic believes that Vučić will once again follow a pragmatic approach and that the final decision will depend on the assessment of what brings the most political benefit to the government and what could cause the most harm.

She also emphasizes that the issue is not only political, but also legal. "What is being overlooked here is the fact that Ratko Mladić was indeed a general, but he was sentenced to life imprisonment. According to the Law on the Armed Forces of Serbia, anyone sentenced to more than one year in prison for a criminal offense loses their rank and, consequently, all privileges associated with that rank," she said.

"If Ratko Mladic were to be buried with the highest state honors in accordance with the rank he held during the armed conflicts, this would be a direct violation of the law of this country."

How the funeral for Ratko Mladic is dividing Serbia
Memorial for children killed during the war in Sarajevo

What do Serbs want?

When asked how they view Ratko Mladic, Serbian citizens interviewed by DW in several cities in the multiethnic autonomous province of Vojvodina expressed deeply different opinions, from those who believe Mladic was unjustly convicted to those who accept him without reservation.

"What was he supposed to do, let them kill all the Serbs? Thank you, Mladic, for everything," a man from Ruma told DW.

"For me, the case was closed when the verdict of genocide was given," said a student from Novi Sad.

But most people simply avoid the question.

"I have enough problems of my own," said Svetlana from Zrenjanin.

Gorani from Novi Sad believes this is just another political issue. "They have been deceiving us for years. Nothing has changed now," he told DW.

Lazovic believes that most Serbs are indifferent to this issue.

According to her, this is a bigger problem than simply the fact that pro-government media portray Serbia as a country that wants to say goodbye to Mladic as a general. She argues that confronting Mladic's legacy and the past is essential if Serbian society wants to move forward./ DW

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