Mladic Memorial: Vujic and Karan Attend

A memorial service for former Army of Republika Srpska commander Ratko Mladic was held on Saturday, September 5, at the Army Hall in Belgrade. The gathering began around 12:10 p.m., attended by family members, military officials and representatives of the authorities from Belgrade and Banja Luka.

Serbia’s Justice Minister Nenad Vujic and Republika Srpska President Sinisa Karan were among those present at the building on Vasina Street. Mladic’s son Darko and his widow Bosiljka represented the family. Also among the guests was former Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Nikola Sainovic, who was sentenced in The Hague to 18 years in prison for crimes committed against the Albanian population in Kosovo in 1999.

After a minute of silence, retired Colonel General Branko Krga addressed those gathered. Krga, a former military attache in Moscow who served as chief of the general staff of the Yugoslav Army and later the Army of Serbia and Montenegro from 2002 to 2005, spoke about Mladic as a commander and, as he put it, about his relationship with politics.

“He used to say that as a soldier, he would not get involved in politics,” Krga said, addressing those present at the Army Hall.

After Krga, remarks were given by Radan Ostojic, minister of labor and veterans’ affairs in the Republika Srpska government, Russian historian Jelena Guskova and General Zivomir Ninkovic. According to those present at the memorial, Guskova offered her assessment of the place she believes the general will hold in history.

“I am certain the general will go down in the history of the Serbian people,” Guskova said.

Ninkovic was brief in describing Mladic’s attitude toward the soldiers who died under his command.

“He shed a tear for every soldier who was killed,” Ninkovic said.

Estimates of the number of people gathered outside the building vary. Radio Free Europe reported that about a hundred people had gathered outside the Army Hall, while the newspaper Danas put the number at around 300 people who remained outside the venue. Some journalists, including a Radio Free Europe crew, were not granted accreditation to enter, with organizers citing a limited number of available spots.

Srpske Vesti previously reported that Ratko Mladic’s body had arrived in Belgrade and that the funeral is scheduled for Monday, September 7, at Topcider Cemetery. Sources differ on one detail regarding the exact timing of the farewell but agree on the key sequence of events. The body will lie in state at the Church of St. Luke in Vidikovac starting in the morning, with some accounts citing 7 a.m. and others 9 a.m., continuing until 12:30 p.m. The funeral service begins at 12:35 p.m., and only after the service, not before it, will the funeral procession set out for Topcider Cemetery, where Mladic will be buried next to his daughter Ana.

The announcement of the state memorial and the delivery of the body by plane to Nikola Tesla Airport on Thursday drew reactions beyond Belgrade and Banja Luka. The Youth Initiative for Human Rights said the Serbian government had misused state resources in bringing the body home and announcing the memorial, and noted that Mladic lost his rank in the Army of Serbia by a final ruling of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in 2021, and with it his right to state and military honors. According to the organization, the government and the Defense Ministry violated the Law on the Army by paying him such honors.

European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos canceled her planned visit to Serbia. Kos said that glorifying someone convicted of war crimes and genocide is incompatible with the values underpinning the path to European Union membership.

Mladic was sentenced in 2021, in a final ruling, to life in prison. The Hague tribunal found him guilty of genocide against roughly 8,000 Bosniaks in Srebrenica, of crimes committed during the siege of Sarajevo, and of taking hostages among United Nations peacekeepers. Minister Vujic had earlier announced that Mladic would be buried with the highest state honors, an announcement that, along with the memorial itself, triggered the reactions seen on Saturday and in the days before it.

Monday’s funeral will be the first public ceremony of this scale since the body arrived in Belgrade, and the exact time the procession leaves Vidikovac for Topcider Cemetery will depend on how long the funeral service lasts.