Commemoration held for late Serb war criminal Ratko Mladic

A commemoration was held in Belgrade on Saturday for war criminal Ratko Mladic, two days before his burial, according to Agence France-Presse. The event, organized by retired and active Serbian army generals, brought together dozens of former military personnel, family members, and officials. Mladic passed away last week after suffering multiple strokes while serving a life sentence at The Hague for atrocities committed during the 1990s Bosnian War.

His body was repatriated to Serbia on a government aircraft on Thursday, greeted with military honors. The 84-year-old will be interred at a Belgrade cemetery on Monday, an event anticipated to draw thousands of mourners, despite widespread international condemnation.

Approximately 300 people attended the Saturday ceremony at a military facility in Belgrade. Mladic's son Darko and other relatives, along with Serbian Justice Minister Nenad Vujic, and officials from Republika Srpska, including President Sinisa Karan, were present. Outside the venue, which had reached capacity, numerous Mladic supporters gathered, many waving flags or donning T-shirts featuring the war criminal in uniform with the inscription, “Serbian Hero.”

During the ceremony, speakers lauded Mladic's role during the 1990s conflicts in Bosnia and Croatia, referring to him as a "towering figure both as a man and a soldier." Mladic's brutal conduct during the breakup of Yugoslavia earned him the moniker "Butcher of Bosnia" in international press. Convicted by the UN court in The Hague for genocide over the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, which claimed around 8,000 Bosniak lives, Mladic remains a hero figure for some Serbs, notably in Republika Srpska, where his death spurred vigils and assemblies.

Retired Bosnian Serb general Zivomir Ninkovic told the gathering, "Thank you [Ratko Mladic] for the existence of Republika Srpska. For if we didn’t have Ratko Mladic, with all his characteristics, we would not have the Republika Srpska." Republika Srpska, alongside a Bosniak-Croat federation, forms modern-day Bosnia following the 1992-1995 conflict.