Serbia Buries War Criminal Mladic with Military Honors

On Monday, Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb commander found guilty of war crimes, received military honors during his burial in Belgrade, despite the European Union's admonitions against celebrating a man convicted of genocide. Thousands attended the Serbian Orthodox Church of St. Luke, where his body was displayed, and followed the procession to the cemetery, where soldiers from the Serbian army carried his coffin adorned with a flag. Patriarch Porfirije, the leader of the Serbian Orthodox Church, officiated the funeral, accompanied by a military orchestra and applause from mourners. Notable attendees included Milorad Dodik, a Bosnian Serb nationalist leader, and Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko, the Russian ambassador to Serbia. Mladic passed away at age 84 on August 27 in The Hague, serving a life sentence for orchestrating the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, the siege of Sarajevo, and other war crimes. His military cap and sabre were placed on the coffin, surrounded by men in military attire, highlighting the enduring nationalist sentiment in Serbia and the nation's disregard for EU concerns about the Yugoslav wars' legacy.