War criminal Mladic is buried as a hero in Serbia despite EU warnings

Convicted Serbian war criminal Ratko Mladic, known as the "Butcher of Bosnia," was laid to rest on Monday, September 7, 2026, in Belgrade, Serbia. Mladic died on August 27, 2026, at the age of 84, while serving a life sentence for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity in The Hague. His conviction in 2017 by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia stemmed from his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre and the siege of Sarajevo.

Despite his conviction for some of the worst atrocities in Europe since World War II, Mladic received a hero's burial with military honors and was mourned by thousands in Serbia. His coffin, draped in Serbian and Republika Srpska flags, was escorted by an honorary unit of the Serbian Army, and the funeral service was led by Patriarch Porfirije of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Many Serbs continue to view Mladic as a defender of his people, with his coffin notably transported to Belgrade on a government plane and carried by uniformed soldiers.

The public homage to Mladic drew immediate condemnation from the European Union, which emphasized that such glorification of war criminals contradicts fundamental European values and has no place in the EU or its candidate countries. The EU's enlargement commissioner canceled a planned visit to Serbia in protest, and victims' groups, including the Mothers of Srebrenica, denounced the funeral as a "shame" and a potential "fascist gathering".