The body of Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb commander convicted of genocide and war crimes, lay in state Monday in Belgrade, Serbia, drawing criticism from European officials who view the public homage as incompatible with EU values.
Thousands of mourners gathered at the Church of St. Luke in the Serbian capital to honor Mladic, who is still considered a hero by many Serbs. His military honors included his cap and saber resting on the coffin, and pro-government media reported that the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church would lead the funeral service.
Mladic died Aug. 27 at age 84 in The Hague, Netherlands, while serving a life sentence for crimes committed by his troops during the 1992-1995 Bosnian War. The conflict resulted in over 100,000 deaths and displaced more than 1 million people before a U.S.-brokered peace agreement ended it.
While Mladic's family formally arranged the funeral, the Serbian government facilitated the transportation of his remains to Belgrade and provided military honors. A military commemoration was held Saturday at an official Serbian army venue.
Serbia, a candidate for EU membership, has faced strong opposition to its decision to honor Mladic. Marta Kos, the EU's enlargement commissioner, canceled an upcoming visit to Serbia in protest, stating that the "glorification surrounding his death is incompatible with the values on which the EU path is built." Other European officials, regional leaders, and victims' relatives echoed these sentiments.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, a former ultranationalist, has dismissed the EU's criticism, accusing Kos of lying. Vucic, who is not attending the funeral, has increased his anti-Western rhetoric ahead of anticipated parliamentary elections.
Mladic was convicted in 2017 for orchestrating the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of over 8,000 Bosniaks, the prolonged siege of Sarajevo, and other war crimes. Serbia has maintained that the Srebrenica events constitute a "horrific crime" rather than genocide. The country also buried another convicted war criminal, Nebojsa Pavkovic, with full military honors last year.
Serbia's bid to join the EU has been hampered by democratic backsliding and Vucic's refusal to impose sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. The war in Bosnia began after the breakup of Yugoslavia, when ethnic Serbs in Bosnia sought to establish their own territory and unite it with Serbia.