War criminal Ratko Mladić to receive full military honors in funeral as crowds gather

The body of Ratko Mladić, the Bosnian Serb commander who died while serving a life sentence for war crimes, lay in state on Monday as Serbia defied European Union warnings against allowing public homage to the man. He was found guilty of the continent’s first case of genocide since World War II.
Thousands of mourners arrived early at the small Serbian Orthodox Church of St. Luke in Belgrade to honor Mladić, who is still viewed as a hero by many Serbs. His military officer’s cap and saber rested on the coffin, which was flanked by men in fatigues.

Pro-government media in Serbia reported that Mladić will receive full military honors while the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Porfirije, will lead the funeral service.

Mladić “was a man who gave everything in his life for the Serbian people,” said Milan Dobric, a mourner who traveled from Kosovo for the funeral. “I am glad that this morning people are coming to pay special respect.”

Mladić died at 84 on August 27 in The Hague, Netherlands, while serving a life sentence for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity his troops committed during the Bosnian war in 1992-95.

While the funeral arrangements were formally made by Mladić’s family, the Serbian government sent a plane last week to bring his remains to Belgrade, and soldiers carried his coffin wrapped in the national flag. A military commemoration was held Saturday at an official Serbian army venue.

Populist President Aleksandar Vucic, a former extreme nationalist who supported Serbia’s expansionist policies during the war, described the funeral as an “emotional outpouring” that “has nothing to do with whether Vucic allowed something or not.”