Thousands gather in Belgrade for Ratko Mladic funeral amid EU criticism

Thousands of mourners gathered at a church in Belgrade on Monday to view the body of Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb commander who died in The Hague on 27 August while serving a life sentence for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The public commemoration has drawn sharp criticism from the European Union, which has warned against honouring a man convicted over atrocities committed during the Bosnian war. The event is taking place in Serbia's capital at the Serbian Orthodox Church of St.

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Luke. Reports said Mladic's military officer's cap and sabre were placed on the coffin, which was flanked by men in fatigues. Pro-government media in Serbia said he will receive full military honours, while Patriarch Porfirije is expected to lead the funeral service.

The Serbian government sent a plane last week to bring his remains to Belgrade, and soldiers carried the coffin wrapped in the national flag. A military commemoration was also held on Saturday at an official Serbian army venue. The gathering has highlighted the continuing divide over Mladic's legacy in the Balkans and beyond.

He is still viewed as a hero by some Serbs, while relatives of victims and European officials see the public homage as deeply offensive. Marta Kos, the European Union's enlargement commissioner, cancelled an upcoming visit to Serbia in protest. She said the glorification surrounding his death was incompatible with the values on which the EU path is built.

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The controversy comes at a sensitive moment for Serbia, which is a candidate for European Union membership. Public treatment of wartime figures remains a recurring issue in relations between Belgrade and Brussels, especially when it touches on accountability for the wars of the 1990s. Mladic was found guilty in one of the most closely watched war crimes cases from that period, and his death has reopened debate over how the region remembers the conflict.

Mladic died at the age of 84 in the Netherlands while still serving his sentence. The funeral arrangements were formally made by his family, but the state's involvement in transporting the body and the reported military honours have given the event a wider political meaning. That has made the commemoration more than a private family matter, turning it into a public test of Serbia's stance on wartime memory and its relationship with the European Union.

What remains unclear is how far the official honours will go and whether the criticism from Brussels will lead to any further diplomatic consequences. It is also not yet clear whether other European officials will follow Marta Kos in changing planned visits or public engagements. The immediate focus now is on the funeral service itself and the reaction it draws inside Serbia and across the region.

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