Body of war criminal Mladić lies in state in Serbian capital ahead of funeral

Marko Drobnjakovic/AP

The body of Ratko Mladić , the Bosnian Serb commander who died while serving a life sentence for war crimes, lay in state on Monday as Serbia defied European Union warnings against allowing public homage to the man found guilty of the continent’s first case of genocide since World War II.

Thousands of mourners arrived early at the small Serbian Orthodox Church of St. Luke in Belgrade to honor Mladić, who is still viewed as a hero by many Serbs. His military officer’s cap and saber rested on the coffin, which was flanked by men in fatigues.

Pro-government media in Serbia reported that Mladić will receive full military honors while the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Porfirije, will lead the funeral service.

Mladić “was a man who gave everything in his life for the Serbian people,” said Milan Dobric, a mourner who traveled from Kosovo for the funeral. “I am glad that this morning people are coming to pay special respect.”

Mladić died at 84 on August 27 in The Hague, Netherlands, while serving a life sentence for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity his troops committed during the Bosnian war in 1992-95.

While the funeral arrangements were formally made by Mladić’s family, the Serbian government sent a plane last week to bring his remains to Belgrade, and soldiers carried his coffin wrapped in the national flag. A military commemoration was held Saturday at an official Serbian army venue.

Populist President Aleksandar Vucic, a former extreme nationalist who supported Serbia’s expansionist policies during the war, described the funeral as an “emotional outpouring” that “has nothing to do with whether Vucic allowed something or not.”

Zorana Jevtic/Reuters

Serbia is a candidate nation for European Union membership and has faced strong criticism for honoring Mladić after his death.

Marta Kos, the enlargement commissioner for the bloc, canceled an upcoming visit to Serbia in protest, arguing that “the glorification surrounding his death is incompatible with the values on which the EU path is built.”

Serbia, which backed Bosnian Serb forces during the war, remains defiant over its wartime role and accuses the West of anti-Serb bias.

Vucic said that “we (Serbs) have been persecuted and harassed for 30, 40 years … always guilty whatever happens.” He added that “people just won’t take it any more.”

Vucic, who is not attending the funeral, has previously accused Kos of “lying.” The Serbian president has stepped up his anti-Western rhetoric ahead of an early parliamentary election expected next month.

A number of other European officials joined the criticism of Serbia, along with regional leaders and relatives of Mladić’s victims from the war in Bosnia. The conflict left more than 100,000 people dead and over 1 million homeless before it ended in 1995 in a US-brokered peace agreement.

Mladić was sentenced in 2017 for orchestrating the massacre of more than 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica in 1995; the yearslong siege of the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo and other war crimes, including setting up concentration camps for detained non-Serb civilians and enemy soldiers.

Since Mladić died, his nationalist admirers have held vigils, painted a series of murals with his image in Belgrade and lit flares in his honor. On Sunday evening, soccer fans displayed a huge image of Mladić and chanted his name at a match in Belgrade.

Serbia has refused to recognize that genocide was committed in Srebrenica, calling the massacre a “horrific crime” instead. Last year, Serbia buried another convicted war criminal, the former army chief of staff Nebojsa Pavkovic, with full military honors at a cemetery for distinguished individuals.

The Balkan nation’s EU bid has stalled due to democratic backsliding and Vucic’s refusal to join international sanctions against Russia over the invasion of Ukraine.

A UN “safe haven” for Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims), Srebrenica ended up being overrun by Serbs who forced men and boys to strip, killed them and bulldozed their bodies into mass graves. The war started after the breakup of the former Yugoslavia when ethnic Serbs in Bosnia took control over swaths of Bosnian territory to form a country of their own and unite it with Serbia.

Marko Drobnjakovic/AP

波斯尼亚塞族指挥官拉特科·姆拉迪奇的遗体周一停放在塞尔维亚的灵堂供公众瞻仰。姆拉迪奇因战争罪行被判处终身监禁，在服刑期间去世。塞尔维亚无视欧盟的警告，拒绝允许公众悼念这位被判犯有二战以来欧洲首例种族灭绝罪行的男子。

数千名哀悼者早早来到贝尔格莱德的圣路加塞尔维亚东正教小教堂，悼念姆拉迪奇。在许多塞尔维亚人眼中，他至今仍是一位英雄。他的军官帽和佩剑放在棺材上，棺材两侧站着身着军装的士兵。

塞尔维亚亲政府媒体报道称，姆拉迪奇将获得全套军礼，塞尔维亚东正教大牧首波尔菲里耶将主持葬礼。

“姆拉迪奇一生都为塞尔维亚人民奉献了一切，”从科索沃赶来参加葬礼的悼念者米兰·多布里奇说道，“我很高兴今天早上有这么多人前来表达对他的特别敬意。”

姆拉迪奇于 8 月 27 日在荷兰海牙去世，享年 84 岁。他因在 1992 年至 1995 年波斯尼亚战争期间其部队犯下的种族灭绝罪、战争罪和反人类罪而被判处终身监禁。

虽然葬礼安排由姆拉迪奇的家人正式负责，但塞尔维亚政府上周派飞机将他的遗体运回贝尔格莱德，士兵们抬着覆盖着国旗的棺木。周六，在塞尔维亚军队的一个官方场所举行了军事纪念仪式。

曾是极端民族主义者、在战争期间支持塞尔维亚扩张政策的民粹主义总统亚历山大·武契奇将这场葬礼描述为“情感的宣泄”，并表示“这与武契奇是否允许某些事情无关”。

佐拉娜·耶夫蒂奇/路透社

塞尔维亚是欧盟候选国，因在姆拉迪奇去世后表彰他而受到强烈批评。

欧盟扩大事务专员玛尔塔·科斯取消了即将对塞尔维亚的访问以示抗议，她认为“围绕他死亡的颂扬与欧盟赖以建立的价值观不相符”。

塞尔维亚在战争期间支持波斯尼亚塞族军队，至今仍对其战争角色拒不认错，并指责西方存在反塞族偏见。

武契奇说：“我们（塞尔维亚人）遭受了30、40年的迫害和骚扰……无论发生什么，我们总是被指责有罪。” 他补充说：“人们再也无法忍受了。”

武契奇没有出席葬礼，他此前曾指责科斯“撒谎”。这位塞尔维亚总统在预计下个月举行的提前议会选举前，加大了反西方言论的力度。

许多其他欧洲官员也加入了对塞尔维亚的批评行列，地区领导人和姆拉迪奇在波斯尼亚战争中遇难者的家属也加入了批评行列。这场冲突造成超过10万人死亡，100多万人流离失所，最终于1995年在美国斡旋下达成和平协议而结束。

姆拉迪奇于 2017 年被判刑，罪名包括策划 1995 年斯雷布雷尼察大屠杀，导致 8000 多名穆斯林丧生；对波斯尼亚首都萨拉热窝长达数年的围困；以及其他战争罪行，包括为被拘留的非塞族平民和敌军士兵设立集中营。

自姆拉迪奇去世以来，他的民族主义拥护者们举行守夜活动，在贝尔格莱德绘制了一系列以他为主题的壁画，并燃放焰火悼念他。周日晚间，在贝尔格莱德的一场足球比赛中，球迷们展示了姆拉迪奇的巨幅画像，并高呼他的名字。

塞尔维亚拒绝承认斯雷布雷尼察大屠杀是种族灭绝，而是称之为“骇人听闻的罪行”。去年，塞尔维亚将另一名被定罪的战犯、前陆军总参谋长内博伊沙·帕夫科维奇以最高军事荣誉安葬在名人公墓。

由于民主倒退以及武契奇拒绝加入国际社会对俄罗斯入侵乌克兰实施的制裁，这个巴尔干国家的入盟进程陷入停滞。

斯雷布雷尼察曾是联合国为波斯尼亚穆斯林（波斯尼亚族人）设立的“安全区”，最终却被塞尔维亚人攻占。塞尔维亚人强迫男子和男孩脱光衣服，将他们杀害，并用推土机将尸体掩埋成万人坑。这场战争始于前南斯拉夫解体之后，当时波斯尼亚境内的塞尔维亚族人控制了大片波斯尼亚领土，试图建立自己的国家并与塞尔维亚合并。