Ivan Lekovic, deputy head of the Military Medical Academy, confirmed what comes next.
At the request of the family of General Ratko Mladic, and on the basis of a letter from the justice minister, the Military Medical Academy will conduct an autopsy of the remains.
Lekovic said, adding that all findings, from the autopsy as well as from every analysis and test, would be delivered to the family and the competent institutions as soon as possible.
The autopsy is being done in Belgrade because there was none in the Netherlands. The Mechanism had said earlier that Dutch authorities did not open a criminal investigation and that no autopsy would be performed. In parallel, on the order of the Mechanism’s president, Judge Graciela Gatti Santana, Judge Iain Bonomy is investigating the circumstances of Mladic’s death. That inquiry is still under way and its details remain confidential.
Vucic promises help and warns about the size of the gathering
President Aleksandar Vucic spoke about the handover during a visit to a household in Coka, before the plane landed.
The body of Ratko Mladic should arrive in Serbia in the late afternoon hours.
Vucic said, and added:
I believe the family of Ratko Mladic will publish all the information.
He said the state is ready to provide every form of logistical, transport and other support, and to help preserve public order, peace and security. According to assessments by the Security Information Agency, the Military Security Agency and the Interior Ministry (MUP), tens of thousands of people are expected at the funeral, which he described as a difficult and complicated situation for the services. Vucic did not say where or when the funeral might be held, explaining that the family decides that.
His wife Bosiljka Mladic spoke to the daily Novosti the same day, while the body was in transit from The Hague.
I am grateful to everyone who helped fulfil his last wish. My heart is calmer. Ratko’s last wish will be fulfilled, that he rest beside our child.
she said, referring to his wish to be buried next to their daughter Ana, who died in 1994.
Seven days since the death in The Hague
Ratko Mladic died on August 27 in a hospital in The Hague, at the age of 84, while in the Mechanism’s custody. His family had repeatedly sought early release on humanitarian grounds for palliative care in Serbia, and the Justice Ministry offered medical transport and a medical team days before his death. The request was not granted.
Mladic was arrested on May 26, 2011, after more than a decade in hiding, and on November 22, 2017 he was sentenced to life imprisonment for genocide in Srebrenica, crimes against humanity and violations of the laws and customs of war. The Mechanism’s Appeals Chamber upheld the verdict on June 8, 2021. When he died he was still waiting for a decision on which country would host the rest of his sentence, one the Mechanism never made.
The next date on the calendar is the commemoration, announced for Saturday at the House of the Army, with the funeral service announced for Monday. Until then it remains open whether the burial will carry the military honors the justice minister announced in late August, and how Brussels, Sarajevo and Zagreb will respond.