{"id":43151,"date":"2026-09-04T09:33:07","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T09:33:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/43151\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T09:33:07","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T09:33:07","slug":"serbia-plans-state-funeral-for-ratko-mladic-as-eu-warns-of-consequences-the-new-voice-of-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/43151\/","title":{"rendered":"Serbia plans state funeral for Ratko Mladic as EU warns of consequences \/ The New Voice of Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/p>\n

\n The body of former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic was flown to Belgrade on a government plane. (Photo: REUTERS\/Chris Helgren)\n <\/p>\n

The body of former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic,
\nwho died last week in prison in The Hague, was flown to Belgrade on a
\ngovernment plane, Reuters<\/a>
\nreported.<\/p>\n

A government plane carrying Mladic\u2019s coffin landed at
\nBelgrade airport on the evening of Sept. 3. The coffin, draped in the Serbian
\nflag, was accompanied by Mladic\u2019s son and grandson and Serbian Justice Minister
\nNenad Vujic. His body will later be taken to a military hospital for an
\nautopsy.<\/p>\n

An unnamed Serbian minister told Reuters that Mladic would
\nreceive a large-scale state funeral. Serbian media reported that a farewell
\nceremony will be held in central Belgrade on Sept. 5 and that Mladic will be
\nburied next to his daughter at a cemetery.<\/p>\n

Serbian President Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107 said he expected \u201ctens of
\nthousands of people\u201d to attend Mladic\u2019s funeral.<\/p>\n

The European Union has already warned Serbia of possible
\nconsequences. EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos said glorifying Mladic as a
\nwar criminal runs counter to European values.<\/p>\n

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovi\u0107 said that if Serbia
\nholds a state funeral for Mladic, it could \u201cclose the door\u201d to EU membership.<\/p>\n

Serbia has been an official candidate for European Union membership
\nsince 2012, and accession negotiations have been underway since 2014.<\/p>\n

Former Bosnian Serb army Gen. Ratko Mladic died on Aug. 27
\nat the U.N. detention facility in The Hague, where he was serving a life
\nsentence for genocide and war crimes committed during the 1992\u20131995 Bosnian
\nWar.<\/p>\n

The Hague tribunal sentenced him to life imprisonment in
\nNovember 2017, and the court upheld the sentence in 2021. Mladic spent 15 years
\nbehind bars after being arrested in 2011 following years on the run from
\njustice.<\/p>\n

In 1996, Mladic and other leaders of the then-unrecognized
\nRepublika Srpska were charged with war crimes committed during the breakup of
\nYugoslavia. The indictment contained 16 counts, including one count of genocide
\nand three related to crimes against humanity.<\/p>\n

Mladic was found responsible for the siege of Sarajevo,
\nwhich lasted nearly four years and killed about 10,000 people, as well as the
\n1995 mass killing of Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica.<\/p>\n

NV reported that the Srebrenica genocide was the largest
\nmass killing in Europe since World War II and the most tragic episode of the
\n1992\u20131995 Bosnian War between Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats.<\/p>\n

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