Serbia plans Mladic state funeral as EU accession faces pressure

Former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic, who died last week in The Hague, was flown to Belgrade on a government plane. His body was draped in the Serbian flag and accompanied by his son, grandson, and Serbian Justice Minister Nenad Vujic. Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić expects "tens of thousands" to attend Mladic's funeral, which will take place in central Belgrade on September 5.

The European Union has warned Serbia of possible consequences, as glorifying Mladic as a war criminal is against European values. Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković stated that such a funeral could "close the door" to EU membership, given that Serbia has been an official candidate for European Union membership since 2012. Mladic was sentenced to life imprisonment in November 2017 for genocide and war crimes committed during the 1992-1995 Bosnian War and spent 15 years in prison after his arrest in 2011.

He was found responsible for the siege of Sarajevo and the 1995 mass killing of Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica, which is considered the largest mass killing in Europe since World War II.